Clannad and the Missing Ninja
by 10000future naruto
Summary: Naruto suffered extensively at the hands of Konoha due to the neglect and abandonment of his family. As they return, he leaves and as time passes he eventually participates in the fourth shinobi war bringing it to an end. In the end he does not celebrate victory with the shinobi alliance and instead teleports himself to the clannad world to start a new life away from the pain.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue and the new day

**Clannad and the Missing Ninja**

**Hello to my readers of my other works 'The Last of Naruto' and 'Naruto and Akame ga kiru revolution', I have not abandoned the stories and will continue them soon, I just lost my motivation for them for a bit, especially with tests coming. I already have most of the upcoming chapters complete. Truth is I shouldn't even write this but I was bored and I remembered Clannad existed and tried reading its fic's, but only could find only one that was satisfactory for me to read. Special thanks goes to **** ' .king for inspiring me to write this with his fic. Just note there will be no similarities between the two and I'll try what I can with this story.**

**Now I'm sure some of you are wondering how I'm going to do this, well I got no idea as Clannad and Naruto don't mix, still it is a challenge I want to try so don't be expecting often updates in this area. Also don't expect this to be as good as my other stories as I mentioned it is pretty hard to mix the two since clannad is drama based and Naruto action based.**

**As for pairings I'm not entirely sure. As for power, that is a messed up area, I'll see what I can do but I'm going to try my best in keeping it with what I see. I.e. Tomoyo is actually pretty strong with her kicks and speed and Kyou can throw and kick pretty hard but in facing ninja I have no idea and I know they'd loose. **

**I also am using inspiration from Projectrain's 'for the love of family' fic. The neglect however will be shown in flashbacks as it bears closer similarity to the Clannad feel. The neglect side will bear similarity to the first 2 chapters of my other fic Naruto and Akame ga kiru revolution so if you want to understand the detail just refer to that.**

**This is more of a drama fic and was sudden inspiration, don't expect much from me in this fic and I may even abandon this if it gets too tough. This was done out of a sudden urge but I will endeavor to write.**

**For pairings I'm going with Tomoyo for the moment, but that is subjected to change. could even make it harem and will develop the story first before deciding completely.**

**I will go back when I can to correct any mistakes because even if I watched all of Clannad, I have a poor memory of the anime. I'm watching it again and expect holes in the story till I remember fully what happens.**

**Chapter 1: Prologue and the new day**

It was a bright and sunny morning with clouds lazily moving about overhead. A young teen with sun kissed blond hair, blue eyes and whiskered cheeks walked casually up a small incline towards his school. Below the incline and surrounding the pathway was an urban jungle stretching across the environment that could be seen from top with their randomized rooftops and distinct transmission poles holding wires overhead.

To the sides of the path were metallic railings used to guide people on the pathway and dissuade them from travelling beyond their limits and into the garden beds.

Most unique about the incline was the blooming Sakara trees slightly shading the path from sunlight while retaining enough space for the rays to seep through. The day was warm and the blooming pink pedals perpetuated the season as they slowly fell and swayed to and fro in the passing breeze.

Naruto continued to walk towards school oddly noting the lack of people on the path. He was currently wearing a cream coloured blazer with a white long sleeved shirt and red tie by the collar along with dark blue pants, typical of the Hikarizaka private high school uniform.

As he walked through the peace-inducing path he reflected over his past, his decisions and the events leading to this new world and his current life.

He thought over the pain and negligence from the villagers of Konoha.

Meeting his parents, twin sister and younger sibling for the first time.

Learning of their abandonment and the pain that followed.

His life as a missing ninja

Growing stronger.

The fourth shinobi war.

And his final decision.

**Flashback **

The war was over; Madara and Obito were dead with Naruto, Satsuki and Naruko standing as the victors alongside the rest of the Shinobi alliance.

Madara and Obito simply couldn't contend with the famous missing ninja Naruto Uzumaki temporarily fighting alongside Satsuki Uchiha, also a famous missing ninja and Naruko Uzumaki whose loyalty to Konoha and her family was clear as day.

The combined power of Satsuki's eternal mangenkyou Sharingan, Naruko's Yin Chakra Tailed beast mode and Naruto's Yang Chakra tailed beast mode alongside the other the kages, particularly Hiruzen Sarutobi, Minato Namikaze and the edo-tensei kages Tobirama Senju and Hashirama Senju simply proved too much for the duo. With their defeat their dream of the mooneye plan was permanently halted and instead worked towards unifying the people across the country.

Many mourned at the sacrifices made, but the ending of the war signified a new era, one where everyone cheered for and in those moments Naruko was at peace. Naruto her estranged twin and secret crush had come back and fought alongside her with her family and Satsuki Uchiha her team mate and eternal rival.

She, her younger sister Narumi and her parents were truly devastated discovering the life Naruto lived in Konoha upon their return and more so with his eventual departure turning him into a capture on sight missing ninja.

Her pain and loss eventually turned to determination making it her dream to bring him back and set things right. She worked hard growing stronger each passing day never hesitating for a moment in her goal.

Now that Naruto had fought for a better future alongside them, she truly believed her dream was complete. The instigator of the war and the Kyubi attack at their birth was dead, the shinobi and people across the lands united.

She had expected everyone would move towards peace and forgiveness, Naruto included.

That was what Naruko had expected.

Naruto on the other hand did not desire such a path having suffered extensively at the hands of the villagers and the abandonment from the family. He struggled to survive during his childhood and when he found out that his mother and father were alive and enjoying life with his twin and a younger sister, he simply snapped inside.

They were brought up in love and happiness.

He was left to rot and starve.

When they arrived in the village and privately introduced themselves to him nonchalantly with Hiruzen as witness, he couldn't take it. The beatings, the pain and the death of Iruka just tipped him over the edge.

He no longer desired to be Hokage of Konoha

He no longer desired to be a shinobi fighting for the good of the village.

He cried alone that night in the rain before affirming himself of a new life away from the confines of the village.

To begin his life as a missing ninja.

To live in freedom as a mercenary.

He still retained his high morals in fighting for the kind and the weak and supposed he could thank his upbringing for that. He had also made it perfectly clear to everyone that he would have no future in Konoha and would never fight for its betterment.

This outlook worked in his favor bringing him all around the elemental countries doing what good he could from his involvement in the Kiri civil war to fourth shinobi war. He participated with the intention of helping those he saw were suffering against tyrants and did what he could to end the needless bloodshed and bring about peace.

He may have fought alongside Konoha to bring the mad man down, but that was because he was a genuine threat to himself and what kind people he knew. Now that the war was over and the lands united in a common cause, he was no longer needed.

In a way he supposed he was a hypocrite to his code.

As everyone cheered, he stayed silent.

He watched on as everyone celebrated for a brief moment before walking away. He needed to find a new home and he needed to prepare himself to do so with the power he held.

The power of teleportation ('Blink's' power in X-men days of future past)

As he turned to leave he quickly jumped to the side to dodge the hugs attempted by Satsuki and Naruko.

He supposed they were happy with the conclusion of the war, the peace that would follow, the forgiveness between everyone and a new era of progress.

He supposed that they thought that with everything over, the mastermind behind their lives dead that he would forgive them on the spot and live life with them.

They were wrong.

Their happiness and peace wasn't meant for him. He suffered badly because of Konoha and his so called family and didn't want anything to do with them. He had made his choice long ago and nothing would change it.

He was leaving.

He watched as the both Satsuki and Naruko became horrified on what he planned and extensively prepared for. He wanted to use his teleportation ability to jump almost anywhere, planets, dimensions; he didn't care where just as long as it was away from them.

They became horrified at what was happening and whom they would lose.

Him.

It didn't take long for them to attack Naruto in attempt to subdue him with the other powerful shinobi following. Still he was not dissuaded from his goal.

He managed to create a portal for himself to jump to another location and plan his next move, but with the flying thunder god technique Naruko and Minato were able to quickly follow with a few powerful shinobi including Hashirama, Tobirama, Hiruzen and Kushina.

They tried talking Naruto out of the decision, but he stood firm.

As they fought it became apparent that Naruto was loosing and he couldn't take the chance of capture and eventual subjugation.

He was forced to create a makeshift portal, still in its experimental stages to a black void that would land him in a random place at a random time.

As he jumped through he had just enough time to turn and see the horrified faces of his family and for some reason it made him happy.

Thus he departed from the elemental nations.

**Flashback end**

Using his teleportation power (like blink from x men days of future past) he managed to create a new future for himself away from the lies and the pain.

He choose his own future over theirs and as much as it hurt making that final decision, there wasn't anyone he was overtly fond of left in the elemental nations nor did he have many friends. Besides he wouldn't have it any other way.

He liked his new and peaceful life.

He liked his school.

He liked his new friends, Tomoya Okazaki with his dark purple to black hair and eyes with his laid-back attitude and crack jokes and Youhei Sunohara with similar colored hair and eyes in its natural state. Youhei's unique difference was that he had bleached his hair blond to stand out like Naruto.

Although his friends were often seen as delinquents, himself included at times due to his foreign looks, he continued to stay with them loyally as they were fun and quirky and reminded him of himself when he was younger.

Before the painful truth came out of course.

Having them as his friends however came to the great displeasure of the faculty, the teachers and various students since he currently held second rank in the school's education system. He was just behind someone named Kotomi Ichinose who just like him was in the top ten ranking for standardized test results in the entire country.

Naruto struggled at first in the new world having turned young again due to unknown side effects of dimensional travelling and also having to learn and adapt quickly while relying on government support as an estranged child. Even with all the governments investigations he had managed to keep his real origins and powers a secret and as they found nothing on him, he was eventually given a pass with a new identity under the government's support and welfare.

As time passed he was eventually offered a foster family for care, but he turned the offer down not trusting families from past experiences and instead took care of himself. Now he was living in an apartment next to Sunohara.

Living alone worked in his favor as he could freely use his power within the confines of his room and to top it off his teleportation ability allowed him to travel elsewhere to more secure locations for personal training and experiments.

As he entered high school his astounding results in the standardized tests allowed him to secure a place in Hikarizaka private high school with a sizable scholarship. This of course was possible due to his prior maturity as a missing ninja and the secret help of his shadow clones, a secret he plans to keep permanent even from his most trusted of friends. In the end he knew people were afraid of what they didn't understand.

As time passed he eventually got to know Sunohara and befriended him as his neighbor, Tomoya eventually following. He was aware of their reputation as delinquents having been advised on multiple occasions due to their record of skipping classes and maintaining low grades, but he remained firm in not abandoning them.

His friendship with them proved strenuous towards his scholarship, but so long he maintained high grades there was no basis for argument. He was aware they had many problems and he supposed that was what drew him to them as friends, he was after all a delinquent at one point causing trouble in the need for attention in Konoha.

To him it seemed society was abandoning them just like Konoha did to him.

Naruto walked onwards up the path appreciating the natural beauty the Sakara trees produced. He noticed a duo walking on ahead, a guy and a girl from what he could make of their uniforms. As he got closer he noticed it was Tomoya and another girl walking side by side, whom the girl was he didn't know.

Seeing a developing relationship he decided it was for the best he kept his distance for now and walked at a much slower pace towards school. Sure he would be slightly late but that was a minor sacrifice and with his reputation he would be easily pardoned, hell he could legitimately skip class due to special privileges just like number 1 had in the library.

He arrived at the entrance to the school noticing the gate still open and the golden sign of the school up front. There were no students around from what he could see and were likely already in class awaiting the conclusion of homeroom.

He made his way inside moving towards homeroom.

It was just another day at school.

**Final Comments:**

**Now, as I mentioned before this story was produced from a sudden inspirational urge. I'm not entirely sure how things will go with this story and I will endeavor not to abandon it. I have a slight plot set up reminiscent of shuffle with the opening of the gates, but instead with the elemental nations. That major development however isn't happening for a while so for now it will be Naruto and Clannad with flashbacks to Konoha and his life. Don't expect much action in this story as it is drama based.**

**So how was the chapter? Review if there is something you want or like and if it's good I'll consider it. Also no flames, I want a detailed constructive review so I can improve and adapt.**

**There is nothing more annoying and stupid than a flame from a reviewer only to find he or she hasn't written a single story and have only been reading other peoples work. Those people are what destroy the enjoyment of writing fanfiction leading to stories being abandoned prematurely.**

**Don't be one of them.**

**Read and Review.**


	2. Chapter 2: Pasts

**Clannad and the Missing Ninja**

**I don't own Naruto or Clannad. **

**Author Note:**

**Hello to my readers of my other works 'The Last of Naruto' and 'Naruto and Akame ga kiru revolution', I have not abandoned the stories and will continue them soon, I just lost my motivation for them for a bit, especially with tests coming. I already have most of the upcoming chapters complete. Truth is I shouldn't even write this but I was bored and I remembered Clannad existed and tried reading its fic's, but only could find only one that was satisfactory for me to read. Special thanks goes to **** ' .king for inspiring me to write this with his fic. Just note there will be no similarities between the two and I'll try what I can with this story.**

**Just by doing this chapter I can see this is going to be an extremely hard and painful fic to write, but I will push forward and try and make the best Clannad and Naruto crossover I can**

**Why I'm doing this, I had an inspiration from reading a Clannad crossover recently 'the world of light and darkness' by ' ' .king' along with a shuffle crossover 'A Ninja turned King' by 'absolutezero001' and watching X-men Days of future past with my friends and thought I could try and combine some elements from each basing itself in the Clannad world. The idea was Naruto has Blink's teleportation ability, obtained 'somehow', which will later be revealed with a neglect fic, dimensional escape and the 'opening of the gates' from shuffle following after except instead of gods and devils it will be the elemental nations lol. Konoha and the elemental nations will make an appearance down the road and as much as shuffle crossover would be easier to do, I hate the characters. They seem so pansy like making the anime was painful to watch for me. So I went with Clannad instead.**

**So far I had good reviews and thanks goes to silentdeath2-2, Fuyuhara Sora, LordGhostStriker and Karlos1234ify and Tama Saga, for keeping me motivated to continue writing this difficult story **

**For Deathgeass I've read some of your fics, particularly your crossover with Suzuka and got to say it's an honour you actually read this. I'd recommend you red my other works, but that's your decision**

**For Generation Zero some of your neglect fics inspired me to write more chapters in my other work as well as this. Keep up the good work.**

**Now for questions:**

**For Fuyuhara Sora, I suppose it would draw interest on the neglect side of things in the Elemental nations, however not to worry, I was planning on having flashbacks and dreams for Naruto in his life in Clannad.**

**For Tama saga. I understand what you mean, but to me the abandonment is a good starting point that I like to use. That and to me I really liked Projectrain's approach to neglect fics and abandonment. That's actually the main reason I follow his path with variations**

**As for pairings I'm not entirely sure. As for power, that is a messed up area, I'll see what I can do but I'm going to try my best in keeping it with what I see. I.e. Tomoyo is actually pretty strong with her kicks and speed and Kyou can throw and kick pretty hard but in facing ninja I have no idea and I know they'd loose. **

**I also am using inspiration from Projectrain's 'for the love of family' fic. The neglect however will be shown in flashbacks as it bears closer similarity to the Clannad feel. The neglect side will bear similarity to the first 2 chapters of my other fic Naruto and Akame ga kiru revolution so if you want to understand the detail just refer to that.**

**This is more of a drama fic and was sudden inspiration, don't expect much from me in this fic and I may even abandon this if it gets too tough. This was done out of a sudden urge but I will endeavor to write.**

**For those who are wondering if the Elemental nations will be making an appearance. Yes, totally, that's the main reason I'm inspired to make this fic. It'll be nice creating that drama and seing that Clannad is all about that and stuff, I thought it would be something good to do.**

**Still don't expect too much. As I mentioned before fics like these are hard to make since they don't mix too well. Naruto all about action and this is all about school and drama. Usually fics have Naruto loose his powers or is an entirely different person. I want to preserve Naruto and continue this fic.**

**After all the hard things in life are always the most fun, or some quote like that.**

**Chapter 2: Pasts**

Naruto walked down the hallways on his way to homeroom class already aware he was late by a large margin. He noted the sunny weather and the rays seeping through the extensive glass lined up along the hallway and the various students entering and exiting the rooms he passed.

As Naruto walked onwards he bypassed a duo of female students who accidently made eye contact with him and developing a noticeable blush, they rushed past. He couldn't help but listen in on the duo from their increasing distance with the aid of his enhanced hearing.

"That's Naruto isn't it? What's he doing being late to homeroom?" a female with long black hair and black eyes whispered to her friend, slight concern evident in her voice.

"I don't know. Okazaki and Sunohara aren't here yet, is he being influenced by the delinquents?" The friend replied also whispering in response.

"What's he thinking? He's a senior with outstanding results, why does he hang around those two? They're only dragging him down."

"I know, he would have made class rep if he put in the right effort. Why he associates with those delinquents I'll never know."

"Yeah, hey did you hear the rumors of teachers and students trying to push them apart?"

"Yeah. I guess it's one of the great mysteries of the school."

Naruto was completely aware of his surroundings, reminiscent of his instincts as a missing ninja and having to be on the lookout for Konoha hunter ninja. Due to his senses he was able to pick up the conversations spoken by the students and the rumors floating about with ease, some of which revolved around him and his choice of friends.

Personally he didn't care what the student's thought of him, most of the time they were at awe of his prowess in classes, but he just wished they wouldn't badmouth his friends behind his back.

He knew of Tomoya and Youhei when they were still active members in school having been accepted through sports scholarship, back when they were popular and not delinquents. He wasn't close friends with them then, hell he was pretty sure he didn't have friends having transferred in at the prospect of a scholarship.

As time passed he eventually befriended them, not out of pity due to their fallout of the scholarships, results and problems, rather because they reminded him of himself when he was younger.

When everyone in Konoha abandoned him.

Of course it was a rocky friendship at first with him seemingly intruding in their lives and the reputation he still held, but eventually through persistence and perseverance Naruto was generally accepted as their friends, much to the chagrin of the faculty, students and teachers.

As he approached the classroom he idly noted an angry Kyou Fujibayashi with her long purple hair, her front left side done up with a white string and purple eyes shining with power stomping angrily towards the direction of his homeroom.

Kyou hadn't noticed him and from what he could see she was too busy in her 'fury mode', approaching his classroom with book in hand. He paused observing her actions as she opened the door with great force and pulled her book arm backwards in preparation for a throw.

"Hey, Okazaki Tomoya!"

He saw her suddenly lunge her arm forward throwing the book forward, great power evident in the throw with a small breeze following in reaction. He couldn't hear any sound of impact on the other side and instead heard the fright of birds chirping in the yard.

Naruto quickly concluded his friend had dodged the book causing it to sail outside into the trees. He watched on as Kyou stormed into his room as he listening in at the surprised reactions of the students, his friend and sister.

"Kyou"

"Onee- chan"

Deciding to follow inside and watch their interactions he stepped into the classroom noting the single filled columns of desks lined up neatly and all the students inside looking on in bewilderment.

He looked at Tomoya and noticed Kyou grabbing onto his red tie forcefully with Ryou trying to calm her down from the sidelines. Even though Kyou was smaller in height compared to Tomoya, her fury easily spoke who was dominant.

"You loser!"

"I was only talking to her!" Tomoya responded, sweat visibly forming.

"Yeah, Onee-chan. He wasn't picking on me or anything."

Kyou took a second to register the words before slowly loosening her grip on Tomoya's tie while taking a step back, a thoughtful expression plastered on her face.

"That's fine" Kyou spoke more subdued letting go of his tie completely before looking down and analysing the card on the floor in surprise.

"You had Ryou read your fortune?"

"Yeah. Apparently I'm going to have a romantic meeting with a kind girl tomorrow." Tomoya responded readjusting his tie

Kyou had a thoughtful expression on her face caring less of his reading.

Naruto decided to take the chance to make his presence known with the group.

"Hey Tomoya-kun, Kyou-chan, Ryou-chan. What's up?" he spoke nonchalantly already familiar with the antics of his friends and classmates.

"N-N-Naruto-kun" Kyou spoke surprised, a light blush forming on her face.

It was no surprise to Naruto that she had a level of attraction towards him with the rumor mills running rampant in school and him overhearing by accident.

"The one and only, so what's this about fortune telling? Could you do mine? I'm sure it'll be fun."

"Um… Okay." Ryou cutely spoke.

"What's this, want to know about your love life?" Tomoya smirked at the idea.

"Not really. Any kind of fortune would do. Experience has taught me to always watch out for such things."

"What fortune are you expecting?" Kyou spoke up confidence returning to her voice with a hint of excitement.

"I'd like one for the remaining school years. Want to know where my life is heading you know, anything would do." Naruto continued lightly scratching the back of his head while showcasing his famous grin.

That did nothing but force Kyou and several on looking girls to blush deeper.

Naruto had made it a personal quest to watch out for the super natural, especially following the events in Demon country. To top off his determination, he was from another dimension and had superpowers with a Biju stuck in his gut. He'd learned long ago never to take everything at first glance.

Naruto, Kyou, Tomoya knelt down picking up the fallen cards and giving them to Ryou to shuffle.

This time as Ryou shuffled she didn't slip spilling the cards over the floor, but instead took the top five off the deck and placed them on Tomoya's desk face up.

"Umm…" Ryou looked over the cards for a few seconds trying her best to discern their meaning. By now everyone in the classroom was listening on in anticipation, curious of the reading.

"Umm… the coming years will have great trials and tribulations with a deeper and dark past making itself known." she said before looking at the other card lined up on the desk.

"Umm… your friendships will be trialed and tested constantly with great understanding and pain following."

"You will find deep happiness with another, but it will be a fragile love tested against others and only held together by a string that could be cut at anytime."

"The final trigger would be a great event drawing in the entirety of the world towards a destiny of promise."

Naruto and the entire classroom had no idea what to make of the fortune presented except for the relationship part. Naruto had an inkling feeling he should take the fortune seriously and he always trusted his feelings. He had no idea about the way to go about it though since as expected there is great ambiguity in fortunes so he assumed the best way was to do what he normally does and make the decisions when it counts.

"We'll, that's a pretty deep fortune. What's your dark past I wonder, sounds interesting and a great worldwide event. That's the first time I heard of a fortune with that." Tomoya spoke curious.

Naruto wasn't sure about the dark past catching up bit and it could mean a wide range of things. The most likely scenario is the reawakening of yang Kurama in his gut. Every time he visited the fox he was always in a deep sleep and hasn't spoken to him since arriving in the new world. Thinking deeply about Kurama, he missed what Kyou spoke next.

"Hmmm… deep happiness with another" Kyou spoke softly more to herself than to Naruto.

"Well good luck… Ahahaha" Kyou spoke upbeat one last time before turning around and leaving, limbs swaying wildly with great enthusiasm in each movement.

Naruto, Tomoya and Ryou looked on confused.

**Lunchtime:**

Naruto walked down the lower corridors bypassing the various shoe lockers custom in Japanese culture.

'So where should I eat?' He wondered to himself while holding a bag of purchased bread from the cafeteria.

"A ghost" he suddenly heard from a student as he walked past. It was another trio of friends engaged in the schools rumor mill.

"Yeah I heard it appears. The ghost of the girl that got in a car accident."

"I bet it's something else."

"I'm not kidding! And I heard she's cute too."

'A ghost huh?' Naruto thought to himself at the idea.

He had never actually seen a ghost human ghost before and frankly the idea of them still scared him simply because of their so-called intangibility. The fear lessened over the years having fought against Obito Uchiha and his intangible ability and now he was more curious than afraid of their existence.

Deciding to move on Naruto walked on down the hall while looking out an open window. As he passed another set of windows he noticed Tomoya sitting down and talking to a girl by the garden bench with a fairly healthy tree shading them.

He watched as Tomoya pointed upwards to the rooftop of the school and continued to talk to the young girl. As he looked closer he noticed the petite figure of the girl, her brown short hair and cute innocent eyes.

Deciding to meet up with Tomoya he jumped out the window uncaring of regulations and approached them, but just before he could make his presence known he heard the distinct sound of engines revving in the distance and various students running in one direction.

"What's that sound?" the petite girl spoke in a cute questioning voice also noticing the disturbance.

From what Naruto could tell the sound was coming from the direction of the soccer court. Making his presence known with Tomoya and girl with a quick 'hi' he made his way there with Tomoya and the girl closely following.

As they approached they saw a trio of gangster wannabies circling the yard on their bikes creating dust clouds in their wake. Towards the sides and entrance of the fields various students watched concerned, curious or excited. From the getup of the majority of the girls they were likely in the middle of practicing soccer on the field, before the interruption.

"Wow, so cool. They're wheeling around!" A student with blond dyed hair, lighter than Naruto's spoke in excitement as he remained seated for the break period.

Naruto immediately recognized the voice and the hair and turned around to see Youhei watching on in excitement, juice box in hand and Tomoya somehow maneuvering himself onto his shoulders outside his notice.

"Yo. Sunohara" Naruto spoke out in a casual greet.

"Sunohara, what's going on?" Tomoya spoke atop of Youhei's shoulders with the petite girl by his side watching on concerned. How he got on without him noticing still mystified him.

"I think they're here for a fight. Guys from another school are here on bikes…" Youhei started before noticed Tomoya's weight on his shoulders and freaked out comically.

Naruto laughed lightly to himself as he always found the duo's interactions a comical sight.

He suddenly heard the cheers of girls by the sidelines bringing his attention back to the court and immediately noticed a girl with a long light greenish grey hair walking towards the delinquents, a noticeable black hair holder atop her head.

He knew her from anywhere.

Tomoyo Sakagami, an old student of his.

"Is she going to give them a lecture?" Sunohara spoke out with excitement.

"No, something much better. Just watch" He replied, a small grin growing on his face.

"Why did this happen?" the petite girl spoke, still not having been introduced.

"This is after all the best school in the city so there are guys who don't like that idea" Tomoya replied as he began walking forward while removing his blazer in preparation for a fight.

Naruto held his arm out and spoke up with great confidence in his tone "Trust me. Better you just watch."

"You going to help Naruto?" Sunohara inputted.

"I can't sit and watch" Tomoya spoke slightly annoyed at Naruto's interference.

"You don't have to worry about Tomoyo-san" a female in sports wear and bloomers spoke out catching the group's attention while also closely being followed by her friends.

"Tomoyo?" Tomoya spoke confused not knowing her reputation.

"You don't know her? She transferred in as a junior starting this spring, Sakagami Tomoyo-san"

"She's really strong if you go out you might get in her way."

As the conversation was in play Naruto was in deep thought reminiscing the times he spent with her and training her in combat.

'So, you made it here after all.'

Naruto focused back onto the field and concentrated on listening in on their interactions. He already knew who would win from the fight having known about Tomoyo's potential when he was younger and him having cultivated her talent further.

"I don't want to cause an unnecessary disturbance. Get lost before you get hurt. If you do I'll let all of you go." Tomoyo spoke out with great confidence and determination lacing her voice.

The delinquents didn't take too kindly to her words and level of confidence.

"Don't screw with us!" a delinquent shouted out before suddenly charging forward at her on his motorbike followed by the duo set on the other.

To the normal observer the fight was over in an instant with her jumping up and landing between the two sending several powerful kicks dismembering their bikes and bruising their bodies.

To him he observed the fight in slow motion taking note of her improved speed, the jumping roundhouse kick she sent at the first delinquent and the dozens of pressurized kicks sent at second bike, all done in a split second.

"So cool" the sports girls from the sidelines cheered jumping up and down.

"What is she?" Sunohara inputted in awe.

Naruto on the other hand watched on proud of his student and seeing her in action showed him she had improved leaps and bounds since their time as student and teacher.

As Tomoya, the girl and Sunohara walked away, he watched on a little longer before moving of to class. He was slightly happy to see his wayward student at school, but also at the same time slightly disappointed with her.

**Flashback**

Naruto had just finished dealing with three delinquents giving an old shop owner a hard time. Sure he was only 10 in physical age, but he had enough knowledge and experience under his belt to take them all on with ease and scare them away from the store.

As he exited the shop with food supplies in one hand he noticed a young girl hiding behind a telephone pole with long greenish grey hair and blue eyes burning with determination.

Deciding to ignore it at first he walked down the street on his way to his apartment complex only to find the girl following him each step of the way. As he got closer to home, the girl continued to follow.

He eventually turned around to confront her

"Why are you following me?" he spoke more out of curiosity rather than anger.

"I… I watched you take on those teenagers with ease. I… I want to be strong", she spoke slightly hesitant at first, but towards the end her eyes and voice brimmed with determination.

Naruto thought for a second, unsure what to do. He had never been a teacher before and he wasn't sure it was a good idea teaching someone some fighting moves, especially in a more passive society. Than again her determination just reminded him of himself when he struggled through life.

Wondering about her reasons he spoke again.

"Why do you want to be strong?" he spoke questioningly, curious where her determination came from.

"I… I want to be able to help others. I want to protect those precious to me."

Naruto smirked

"Good answer."

**Flashback end**

Since then Naruto had given her personal lessons on how to fight and she took it all in like a sponge. She grew leaps and bound and in short time she was without a doubt one of the strongest fighters in the city, behind him of course.

As the lessons grew so to did their relationship, but they didn't take it too far sticking to a teacher student relationship. As things were beginning to grow between them she suddenly stopped the lessons, leaving without an explanation.

**Flashback:**

"Tomoyo, you've been out of it all week. What's wrong? If it's something serious the best thing is to always talk to someone about your problems." Naruto spoke concerned over her sudden drop in performance.

Naruto had also noticed a greater deal of hesitance in every kick she sent making them much weaker and slower than usual. Looking closer he also begun noticing her distant looks as if she was concentrated on something else.

There was a brief pause before she spoke.

"I… I can't come to the lessons anymore" She spoke downtrodden, hesitance lacing her voice and her hair bangs doing its best to cover the emotions behind her eyes.

"Tomoyo. What's wrong? You usually find these practices fun since we were kids. What's suddenly changed that?" Naruto spoke more serious with her sudden mood change. She use to be energetic and happy, for her personality to change so suddenly…

There was a long pregnant pause

"I… I'm sorry sensei. I… It's something I don't want to talk about. I… I have to go." Tomoyo spoke one last time before turning around and leaving, her hair slowly swaying with each step.

She never came back to practice since.

**Flashback end:**

Day's later rumors began popping up of a young beautiful girl fighting delinquents and gangster wannabies all across town, instigated or not. Naruto was saddened over what had become of her and the direction her life was headed and just wished he had said something to her before she left.

But like all things in life, choices came with regrets.

**In class**

Naruto sat down in his designated seat behind Tomoya and diagonally behind Sunohara. He didn't need to go to class with the special privileges he had access to, however he just didn't know what to do with the time and he wasn't willing to spend it in the library just yet.

He listened in on the teachers lecture talking over calculus again. He already knew his stuff through clones and it didn't take long for his mind to wonder while drowning out the teachers drawl to background sound.

Naruto slumped onto his desk, arms covering his head as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

**Dream:**

Naruto Uzumaki otherwise known as Konoha's 'demon brat' sat slumped by a tree soaked head to toe from the pouring rain. In the background thunderclaps sounded off constantly from the storm overhead with people running about into cover either ignoring him or sending disgusted glances his way. He didn't care about any of that though.

Any sane person in his situation would be avoiding the rain while trying to dry themselves.

Not him though.

He had just come from the Hokage tower and his apartment complex, desolate and depressed over the recent news.

His family was alive.

He learned so suddenly that he had a mother, a father, a twin sister and a younger that had lived happily together outside the village without him.

They essentially abandoned him.

After everything he's been through it came to no surprise that Naruto's eyes no longer held his natural bright cheerfulness, now instead they were replaced with void, empty eyes.

He had left that tower lost and confused with everything that was happening.

He no longer wanted to be the Hokage of Konoha.

He no longer wanted to be a shinobi for the village.

He just wanted the pain to stop.

He wanted to disappear.

For years he survived through the torturous acts of the villagers time and time again. He lived through the beatings, the torture, the persecution and the starvation in hopes that people would recognize him for who he was.

A human being.

In the end though his hard work amounted to nothing, his strength couldn't even save those precious to him.

Iruka was dead, killed by Mizuki days ago.

All he had left were the people that cared for him, Ayame, Teuchi and Hiruzen Sarutobi.

He would have eventually gotten over Iruka's death and moved on, but then he learns only days later that the Hokage had been keeping secrets from him.

His family was alive and they were enjoying themselves.

**Dream flashback:**

Naruto awoke to no water or electricity with the landlord demanding payment for his accommodation, something he simply couldn't do. His accommodation was already set too high with him being 'special' and there wasn't enough money left to work with.

Then an ANBU agent arrives mid way through calling him to a special meeting in Hokage's office. Hurrying to get dressed he picked out anything suitable to wear, regardless if all his clothes were rugged, ugly and dirty. As much as he wanted better clothes he couldn't purchase any for always being run out of stores or items sold at ridiculously high prices.

As he made his way to the Hokage tower bypassing the glares and whispers, Naruto was greeted to the sight of Hiruzen outside, a rare occurrence with meetings usually taking place in the Hokage's office.

As they went inside and entered the office he was surprised to find the Yondaime, the Yellow flash of Konoha and his greatest hero sitting on the kage's seat along with a long red haired lady and 2 kids by his right. He noticed the features of the females, first the older woman who had noticeable long red hair going down to her waist and held one of the children who bore great resemblance to her, looking at him with curious, innocent eyes.

The final female he noticed was most likely around his age and surprisingly looked like his oiroke no jutsu except younger with 2 pigtails, sun kissed blond hair and was even detailed down to the whisker marks on her cheeks. It made him slightly happy that there was someone else out there that bore his features.

Surprised to find the fourth Hokage alive and well with what he assumed was his family; he wondered what was going on and what this had to do with him. Sure he was honored and all having been called up personally, but why signal him out? Was it because he sealed the Kyubi into him? Did he want to finish the job like the villagers wanted?

(The following interaction would be similar to Projectrain's story 'For the love of Family', I PM'd him and got permission).

"Ah! Naruto I'm glad you're here", Minato spoke with a foxy grin similar to Naruto's own.

"Look at you, so handsome already. You have your father's looks alright." the redheaded woman gushed.

"…Father?" Naruto slowly registered unsure where the conversation was going. As far as he knew he was an orphan and his parents had died during the Kyubi incident.

'Did these people know my parents? Were they friends?' was what he thought at the time. Sure he was a bit unsure why the Kyubi was sealed into him in the first place, but maybe the reason was Minato and his parents were close.

"That's right son! I told you he'd take after me didn't I Kushina?" Minato continued nonchalantly.

"Tch. Whatever, he still has my face," Kushina playfully jabbed unaware of the grave mistake their antics were making.

As if trying to clarify the situation Sarutobi spoke up "Naruto, I'm sure you're familiar with the Yondaime Hokage and this is Kushina Uzumaki- Namikaze. They are your parents". He spoke slowly to ensure he fully understood what they meant, hesitance slightly lacing his voice.

Naruto stood there shocked and unable to fathom the situation. He stood extremely quiet almost showing no signs of breathing.

"…"

"Sochi? Are you okay?" Kushina asked looking at her son in worry.

"…" Naruto didn't respond, instead looked down with hair bangs covering his eyes.

"Now I know what you must be thinking. How come it took us this long to come home? Well with Jiraiya and Tsunade taking care of you we figured we'd wait a while and train Naruko a bit more. Why I bet those two Sannin had been beating you to the ground with how serious they were when it came to training. Oh yes! I'd like you to meet your two sisters!" Minato said cheerfully trying to lighten the mood as he motioned to the older sister by his mother's side and the younger sister in the arms of Kushina.

"Is that Naruto-niisan?" The little girl asked her older sister softly as Kushina gently rocked her side to side.

"Yes Narumi-chan. That's onii-san", Naruko replied warmly to her little sister.

"Hello Naruto-niisan. I'm Naruko and I'm your younger twin. This is Narumi and she's the youngest of us. I've wanted to meet you for a long time now nii-san and I'm so happy to finally meet you", she spoke smiling warmly at her brother with a bow.

Naruto still didn't respond and just looked at the floor unable to think or look at the 'family' he had missed out on, still they ignored his lack of reaction and continued.

"Haha! They've always wanted to meet you ever since we told them they had an older brother. Gosh it seemed like yesterday when the kyu-"

"That's enough Minato!" Sarutobi cut in.

He understood Minato's excitement in seeing his son after all the years he staged his death leaving Naruto in the hands of Tsunade and Jiraiya, but Minato didn't know of what happened while he left Naruto at the mercy of villagers who despised the 'demon brat'.

Naruto had only recently found out about his tenant that was linked to his life in the most horrid way possible and the more Minato continued on the greater the grave he dug. He doubted their cheery approach was helping Naruto at all and was likely having the opposite effect.

"What is it Sarutobi?" Minato asked.

"I told you to hear me out before you did anything but did you listen? No! You have no idea what you've done. You and Kushina have made a grave mistake!" Sarutobi said as the volume of his voice increased with every word.

"What are you talking about Sarutobi?" Kushina questioned unsure what the problem was.

"…So you know them Sarutobi-sama" Naruto finally spoke monotone while keeping his attention on the floor.

Naruto understood now, he couldn't trust Sarutobi. He had lied to him all these years and what's worse he's been putting up with this crap all his life.

Sarutobi flinched at the sudden respect change Naruto gave to him, yet still replied, "Yes Naruto, I know Minato and Kushina and I can't begin to express how sorry I am for not telling you" he spoke sadly.

It was clear that Naruto no longer trusted him and he wouldn't be surprised if he hated him, hell he hated himself right now. He only knew about Minato and Kushina's disappearance after the Kyuubi attack with a letter stating that Minato had trusted Jiraiya and Tsunade to look after him as his godparents, especially when they were the best teachers around to protect and train Naruto to control the Yang part of the Kyubi.

They on the other hand needed to maintain secrecy to gain an edge against the masked man and train Naruko to prepare for the inevitable battle. This separate training regime would optimize the amount of knowledge they can cover for the twins and the village would grow stronger as a result. They believed this was the best way to strengthen the 'will of fire', the fire that burns with strength and determination.

"He couldn't say anything because it was an S rank secret sweetie", Kushina cooed hoping to get her son to look at them.

"And I'm sure you know all about that since you're in the ninja academy if what I read is correct", Minato spoke again looking at a paper this time.

"Minato… We really need to talk. These are not happy times and I'm sorry things didn't go the way you hoped all those years go." Sarutobi said looking at Naruto in sadness.

"Am I free to go Sarutobi-sama" Naruto continued monotone.

"But sochi-"

"Yes you're free to go and for what it's worth, I'm sorry." Sarutobi replied ignoring the furious look Kushina sent his way as Naruto left the office not bothering to dignify his apology.

Naruto had left the office and walked down the stairs limping towards the exit in a daze. It was raining heavily with the occasional thunderclap going off, yet Naruto continued to walk out ignoring it all.

The ground was slippery with mud, but Naruto paid no mind. He was mulling over what had happened and felt sad and sick every time he thought over it.

So engrossed into his thoughts that he didn't notice a shinobi on his right approaching him. Suddenly the Chunin pushed him forward, knocking him onto the muddy puddle in front.

"Take that you demon spawn", the female Chunin spat at him before walking away, back into cover.

After struggling to get up and out of the puddle, he subconsciously made his way back to his apartment, hoping that everything was but a dream.

**Dream Flashback End**

Naruto arrived at his apartment only to find all his belongings outside, clothes, scrolls and even cooking ware was thrown out. It was clear what had happened, he was no longer welcome to live inside.

Almost on the verge of tears he bent down scavenging through what little items he had and picked up what he could.

He walked off in the rain making his way to Ichiraku's after all ramen always made him better, but as he arrived at the stand a closed sign only greeted him.

Nowhere to go and nothing to eat Naruto made it to the one place that always made him feel comfortable, regardless of the pains he went through.

The lone tree in the park.

He would have preferred to spend the night in the alleyway under a dry spot, but he learned the hard way the danger associated with those areas. Every time he sought shelter in such places he would be subjected to beatings away from prying eyes.

In the end open areas were the safest.

Making his way beneath the tree he slumped down, tears forming in his eyes and mixing with the rain.

He thought over the day and his time spent in Konoha and the thoughts stabbed him deeply inside.

That night he cried alone.

**Dream end**

Naruto suddenly woke to Sunohara throwing small paper balls at him. He glared angrily at Youhei slightly scaring him before composing himself with a smile.

"Sorry, bad dream… What's up?" He lightly whispered keeping his voice down so the teacher and students won't be interrupted.

"Tag along later, there's something I want to do."

Slightly annoyed over a simple response, but thankful for waking him up Naruto nodded slowly to Sunohara.

**Later in the hallway:**

"A set up?" Tomoyo Sakagami spoke slightly tilting her head in confusion.

All around seniors and juniors watched on at the interaction taking place in the hallway.

"Yeah. There's no way a girl can beat guys. You paid them or something asking them to lose right, to get popular?"

Naruto face palmed at Youhei's blatant stupidity. Here he was meeting Tomoyo again for the first time in years and his friend just had to say something so stupid with him present as 'backup'.

Ignoring Naruto's reaction Youhei continued mockingly, "If it's not money, would it be the other something? Girls are lucky since stupid guys will listen to that."

"Who are they?" an on looking girl spoke in the background to her friend.

"They're the gang from the senior class. I think they're Sunohara and Okazaki."

"What's Uzumaki doing with them?"

"You don't know? He hangs around them, probably blackmailed into it."

'Great, we're a gang now', Naruto thought to himself, palm still on his face.

Tomoya took hesitant steps back not liking their level of attention front and back and trying to distant himself from idiotic friend.

"Be happy. I was thinking I wouldn't hurt those in the same school, but I'll make an exception and specially fight you." She spoke voice full of authority and confidence. She brought her right hand to her chest as a gesture of innocence.

Naruto and Tomoya began taking more steps backwards knowing where the conversation was headed. By now the entire hallway was listening on either in curiosity or excitement.

"You're so cute acting tough. I bet your knees are shaking." Youhei continued with arms on his hips and wiggling around, mocking her.

"Naruto. Are you with him?" She spoke looking at him, confused over the involvement of her former teacher.

"For the moment… No". Naruto replied firm and embarrassed over the actions of his friend Youhei.

Tomoyo looked back at the instigator.

"I would like to make this self-defense, so you come at me." She spoke, her arm outstretched with a come-hither motion and stance unchanged showcasing her confidence over the situation.

Naruto knew his friend would get his ass handed to him, but seeing him embarrass him and Tomoya so openly, he decided to say nothing and watch on.

"Don't be full of yourself" Youhei spoke preparing himself for combat.

Tomoyo began jumping lightly preparing for any sudden moves. If Naruto was his friend there were surprises bound to happen, he could be strong for all she knew and it could be a test just like the old days with him.

Youhei suddenly charged, fist cocked backwards for a forward punch and just before any action took place Tomoya spoke up.

"That's when I remembered. In this city there use to be a really strong, beautiful girl who went around beating up people who troubled ordinary folks." He spoke in an informative tone to Youhei as Tomoyo kicked him repeatedly.

Youhei was sent flying backwards landing on the ground with a noticeable *thud* behind Tomoya and Naruto, bruised and battered.

"So the rumor goes," Tomoya continued almost uncaring of his friend's plight.

"Tell me earlier" was Youhei raspy reply, comical tears pouring out his eye's.

Naruto just stood there with a sweat drop.

Girls in the background cheered

"She's so cool"

"That guy's so lame"

"Pease don't come again." Tomoyo spoke neutrally before turning around to Naruto.

"It was nice seeing you again sensei." She spoke softly with a small smile before turning around and walking off.

"It's nice to see you again Tomoyo" he replied softly more to himself, his words remaining unheard by her.

"Damn it!" Youhei cried out still on the ground.

**End of school:**

Naruto prepared to walk out the gate and down the hill to his apartment. As he looked to his left he saw Tomoya lying down on the grass next to the recently identified girl Nagisa Furukawa from class B. Deciding it was best not to interrupt he made his way home appreciating the orange sky and setting sun as he bypassed the Sakara trees downhill.

Naruto could have easily hid around a corner and make a portal back to his apartment, but walking up and down the incline allowed him to appreciate the beauty and peace of the world, not to mention ward of any suspicions of him.

He approached his apartment, not in the mood to do training through the night and instead dispelled his clones in his other hideout while creating more as replacements and sending them through a portal for training, studies and homework.

Naruto lied on his bed thinking over his day before drifting off to sleep.

**Dream:**

Naruto awoke to a field of golden grass and hills surrounding as far as the eye could see. Above in the sky there were clouds moving about slowly, bright as if it were a sunny day, yet no sun was visible in the distance.

Everywhere he looked as small balls of light rose from the field rising up into the heavens.

He was lost and didn't know where he was.

He walked onwards shouting out for anyone, someone to talk to, to find out what was happening, where he was.

As he walked through the hills and the golden fields and saw a figure in the distance levitating off the ground. As he got closer he noticed it was a female child that looked like himself, petite with golden short hair levitating off the ground with eyes closed.

Naruto approached cautiously, curious of the girl in front of him. As he watched on his desire to touch her grew. Naruto stretched his arm forward reaching out to her, to touch her and as he made contact everything went white.

**End**

**Final Comments:**

**Now, as I mentioned before this story was produced from a sudden inspirational urge. I'm not entirely sure how things will go with this story and I will endeavor not to abandon it. I have a slight plot set up reminiscent of shuffle with the opening of the gates, but instead with the elemental nations. That major development however isn't happening for a while so for now it will be Naruto and Clannad with flashbacks to Konoha and his life. Don't expect much action in this story as it is drama based.**

**As for relationships, I have no idea as of yet. As you know Clannad is harem based, however I'm not making it a harem, at least that's where my thoughts are leaning for the moment. Right now I want to focus on interactions.**

**So how was the chapter? Review if there is something you want or like and if it's good I'll consider it. Also no flames, I want a detailed constructive review so I can improve and adapt.**

**There is nothing more annoying and stupid than a flame from a reviewer only to find he or she hasn't written a single story and have only been reading other peoples work. Those people are what destroy the enjoyment of writing fanfiction leading to stories being abandoned prematurely.**

**Don't be one of them.**

**Read and Review.**


	3. Chapter 3: Steps

**Clannad and the Missing Ninja**

**Authors Notes**

**Ok, I re-watched two extra episodes of Clannad totaling up to episode 4 and thought to myself, what a bother trying to write interactions for them since they're based on Tomoya and Nagisa specifically. I looked over my chapter and the level of ambiguity behind it and finding a loophole, I thought to myself Naruto doesn't need to be super close friends with Tomoya and Youhei and hang around them like his life depends on it, he can be more like close associate friends on really good terms or something like that. I'm stating this approach, why you wonder, simple, I would push through the chapters at a faster speed and enjoy it much more when I write. Additionally to those that think that my Naruto isn't extremely close to his main friends Youhei and Tomoyo, its not simply black and white like that.**

**Also the main focal point of this story I am writing towards will appear sooner than like 20 chapters down.**

**The dreams will act as the cornerstones for important elemental nation flashbacks and events, flashbacks themselves associates more in Clannad.**

**I put up some interesting ideas in this chapter. I'm sure you'll be able to take notice as you make a startling connection and also this is going to become M rated. I realized my idea for the elemental nations is going to be pretty deep and gruesome.**

**For romance… No idea as of yet as this is still new, but as you can tell there are three prospects.**

**I put a reply to a review below and it should help clarify some stuff with Tomoyo.**

**As for the interactions with Tomoyo this chapter, got to say it was annoyingly hard since I'm not a psychologist so I'm making what I think up. Don't stress too badly, for those that know sims more closely she takes the role of a childhood friend except through a student-teacher relationship. Personalities and stuff isn't my strong suite. Ironically maths is lol.**

**Also if there are errors point them out. I tend to miss things when I proof read and I'm rushing as usual. Why I'm addicted to writing instead of studying or reading I'll never know.**

**Oh I forgot to add, can someone PM me how to do polls. I only really use my profile to add stories and nothing else lol.**

**Chapter 3: Steps**

Naruto suddenly woke to the loud banging at his door and unable to see past the dream.

"Naruto… I have something early to do today in school. I'll meet you there before class." Youhei spoke slightly groggy behind the door showing a great level of desire to attend, different from his usual self.

Naruto groaned out annoyed and still half asleep.

Acknowledging he was awake Youhei walked back to his room in preparation for school.

Naruto would have preferred it that he had been warned earlier he had something planned, but now that he was awake, he didn't feel like sleeping again.

Grumbling softly Naruto struggled to sit up, still in a daze and constantly being drawn to the warmth of his blankets and the bed.

He looked around his apartment room noticing the few sunrays entering through the blinds and the minute details all around. His room was small with books, papers and clothes scattered about and a small square table in the middle taking the brunt of the mess. He lived in a typical teenage apartment in terms of size and mess and it smelled slightly from the dirty laundry his clones had yet to do. Since he didn't like cleaning it was only natural his clones wouldn't like it either leaving it for someone else to do.

'That dream again' he thought to himself sitting up from his bed and scratching the back of his head.

He remembered having that dream once before and the last time he did he ended up outside Konoha followed by the discovery of his unique teleportation ability. He still wasn't sure if it was a bloodline or not as he had yet to hear of someone being able to create teleportation portals at will. Still was thankful for it.

Getting ready for the day he created a portal to his extra hideout and dismissing his night clones, he created more sending them through for the usual day routines.

As the portal closed he created another clone for breakfast while he jumped into the shower preparing himself for the day.

As he finished showering, dressing up and eating breakfast he set off to school early deciding to meet up with Youhei and Tomoya there.

**By the road**

As Naruto walked down the common path by the main road he met up Tomoya along the way, also up bright and early. As he walked down he noticed the green-wired fences blocking buildings from the path and the pink cherry blossom trees blooming on the sides bathing the road and pathway with fallen pink petals.

From the distance he could hear the roaring engine of an incoming motorbike. Looking back in curiosity he noticed Kyou speeding towards him lacking control over her bike.

"Naruto, get out of the way!" she screamed over the sound of the engine.

Naruto having noticed her coming moved to the side slightly dodging the bike while at the same time maneuvering him into a position to lift Kyou with both hands by her sides and effectively dismounting her. The bike didn't stop due the amount of velocity still pushing through and it sped past, smashing itself onto the bumper fence without her.

Tomoya having been less responsive to his surroundings dodged much more last minute by jumping to the side and landing completely flat on the pavement.

The trio watched on as the bike jumped with a small flip in the air with Kyou's school bag suddenly coming loose from the holder.

"Hehehe… Thanks for the save Naruto" Kyou spoke slightly embarrassed having her crush save her while also still holding onto her sides.

"Hey, watch it!" Tomoya spoke out angrily nursing his pains from having to suddenly jump sideways.

Kyou ignored him and continued to look at Naruto laughing slightly, hand behind her head as she recovered in a standing position. "Sorry Naruto… I lost control for a bit, you're not hurt are you?"

"What about me dammit" Tomoya spoke frustrated at being ignored.

"I'm fine… I noticed you coming from the distance with that sound" Naruto responded having not at all been effected by the vehicle.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not use to driving yet. I only got my license last week" she spoke again slightly dusting herself and checking for any rips or unknown injuries around her being.

Naruto walked forward and picked up her handbag, dusting it before giving it to back to her.

"Thanks"

She walked forward lifting her bike vertically up again in preparation for use while checking for any scratches or dents.

"All right. No dents. I'll let you off without paying the repair fee, you better be grateful" She spoke specifically to Tomoya as she looked at him with a critical eye.

"Hey aren't I the victim here?" Tomoya replied frustrated and still on the ground.

She ignored him and got back on her bike.

"I'll see you later Naruto", Kyou spoke happily before taking off towards the direction of school. It was as if the crash had absolutely no effect on her.

'That was weird' Naruto thought to himself analysing her sudden skill leap as she drove off. It was almost as if she planned the crash on purpose.

"Fujibayashi Kyou eh?" Youhei spoke suddenly walking up to the duo and making his presence known.

"There sure are a lot of savages in our school."

"Sunohara, it's rare to see you at such a normal hour" Tomoya spoke getting up from the ground and dusting himself clean of the pink petals

"I like paying back debts quickly to that other savage girl", he spoke smugly with a hint of determination.

Where he gets it from Naruto had no idea.

**Class hallway before school:**

Youhei faced Tomoyo with Naruto and Tomoya casually standing in the background.

"Your persistent huh." Tomoyo spoke looking specifically at Youhei.

"I was out of shape last time, but not today!" Youhei spoke in determination, his posture leaning forward slightly in an aggressive stance.

"Just so you know Youhei. I kind of trained her. I forgot to mention that last time".

"What! How could you forget that!?" Youhei spoke looking on at him annoyed at that lack of detail.

"It was a couple years back, besides I was too busy hiding myself from the embarrassment to mention that small detail, especially with everyone around. Would telling you have made much of a difference?" He spoke casually again.

"Tch... I know I can take her on" he spoke serious for a slight moment before continuing.

"When there's too much time between taking the mound, even the best pitcher can get knocked out!" He spoke out dramatically with a great deal of willpower and determination laced in his voice, hand gestures aiding the effect of his point.

'What a lame analogy' Tomoya, Tomoyo and Naruto thought simultaneously.

Naruto wondered to himself if this was what he was like when he challenged Satsuki Uchiha daily back in the ninja academy. Comparing himself to Youhei's challenges made him shudder inside. Was he really an idiot back then? (I believe he was)

Sighing Tomoyo prepared herself.

"I really think you should let this loss slide Sunohara" Naruto spoke this time out of concern for his friend having empathized with his plight and his younger self's.

"Take my advice and Naruto's and stop or do you not mind becoming unable to attend school?" she spoke as her natural self, confidence evident in her tone.

Youhei Sunohara slightly hesitated and took a step back before determination returned in full force along with a light laugh to affirm himself.

"I wonder which one of us will be unable to come to school?" he spoke confident again and moving into a traditional fighting stance, hands up high covering his chest.

"You're hopeless" she spoke again with a sigh.

"Naruto. Will you be my witness? This is for self defense." She spoke while looking his way. It seemed all the interactions with her lately were associated towards the stupidity of his friend.

"Yeah, sure. Since it really is." He spoke non-chalantly already knowing where the fight was headed.

As a ninja if you faced an old enemy with nothing new, defeat was inevitable outcome and as far as Naruto could tell Youhei came to the fight with no changes from yesterday. The fight since then hadn't even passed the 24 hour mark yet.

"All right." She looked back at Youhei.

"So what do you want me to do? Do you want me to make you unable to stand for a while?" She spoke questioningly goading him to attack.

"You can't possibly do that!" he pointed at her showcasing his unrivaled determination.

"Quit blabbering and bring it on!" he spoke one last time before charging forward in a jump with his right fist cocked back for a strike.

In less than a second Tomoyo was under him in a backwards squat in preparation for her fast and flexible kicks. Suddenly she attacked with her right leg launching him slightly higher and keeping him suspended with multiple strikes.

There was a temporary halt before she spun around for a better position and for stronger kicks to be sent his way.

"Wow, he's actually flying." Tomoya spoke in awe.

"Acquaintance, the dust chute!" Tomoyo spoke looking at Tomoya. She was aware Naruto would feel uncomfortable aiding her in beating his friend

Tomoya scrambled in surprise and opened the Dust chute by the wall.

Tomoyo finished Youhei off by landing a downward heel kick on his abdomen forcing him to land directly into the dust chute while she instead landed on the ground in a forward kneeling position, similar to a ninja revealing itself and just like Naruto had taught her.

528, that's the amount of kicks Naruto saw and recorded that Youhei had lived through. It was an impressive number and in a way demonstrated his durability and knack for quick recovery.

Youhei suddenly becoming aware of his position screamed out

"Help me!"

Naruto and Tomoyo approached the chute, Tomoyo likely to deliver the final, humiliating blow and Naruto to get a better view of the comical sight. He knew he wouldn't die from falling in and would probably be up again to challenge her later.

As Tomoyo approached the chute, she knelt down facing Youhei looking on at his terrified expression as he struggled to hold onto the sides and prevent himself from falling in.

Tomoyo suddenly spoke pointing at him to emphasize her point and her position.

"You'll fall if I release these fingers. What do you want me to do?" she spoke casually and in an informative manner doing nothing but increasing Youhei's agitation.

Youhei looked around quickly for help, possibly from Naruto and Tomoya.

He was in for a surprise.

Tomoyo continued to look at him closely, a serious, yet somehow carefree expression on her face and her unblinking eye's increasing Youhei's confusion and terror.

"Do you want to fall? So you do" she spoke quickly.

"I didn't answer!" he cried out comically frightened and sweat dropping from the lack of mercy he's been given.

By now Naruto was lightly giggling inside, the sight just reminded him of his younger self and Satsuki all over again.

Everyone watched on as Tomoyo reached her hand forward to the side of the chute, slowly reaching towards Youhei's hands gripping the sides. Youhei looked on in fright and was lowly crying out in terror.

Tomoyo grabbed a finger lifting it slowly and pulling it back along with his hand. Each passing moment Youhei's grip on the chute loosened and eventually he fell in screaming all the way down to ground level.

"Did I go overboard?" Tomoyo spoke more to herself than to Naruto.

"Nah, he's fine. He's a persistent one, I'll give him that."

"Hey, Sunohara! You alive!" Tomoya shouted down the chute to confirm their thoughts.

"Screw you! This isn't the end!" He shouted back from below, voice echoing across the halls.

"See he's totally fine." Tomoyo spoke.

Tomoyo sighed slightly downtrodden from Youhei's response

"I really wish this were the end, but seeing you guys brings back memories" she spoke slightly reminiscent.

"Naruto, I'd like to talk to you. Will lunch be an appropriate time?" She spoke again; slightly hesitant if one was to look deeper.

Naruto looked back confused before smiling, "Sure, that'll be fine. Where do you want to meet?"

"On the roof of the new school building," she spoke quickly before walking away.

**Later in Library:**

Naruto walked up the stairs approaching the library. He didn't really feel like going straight to class and waiting for homeroom, instead he'd rather read about equations associated with his project, then again there was still plenty of time left before school starts so abusing his privileges he walked towards the library.

Sliding the entrance open and entering the old school library he noticed the lack of student presence inside and the various shelves and desks evenly spread across the room. Looking further he noticed the sun lighting the room through the windows and the lack of litter and dust around, likely the library having undergone cleaning recently.

As he walked down he took notice of a girl sitting on a light orange cushion reading a book barefooted. All around her high level books were scattered with the addition of a tied up lunch box by her side. He immediately recognized her as Kotomi Ichinose from class A.

Naruto hadn't met her officially yet so he supposed this was their first meeting.

He noticed her suddenly reach for a pair of scissors, slightly old and worn and brought them towards a page of the book in preparation for a cut.

"Whoa… wait!"

Kotomi took noticed of his presence and looked towards him, her long purple hair lightly moving as she turned head slowly emphasizing the cherry ties on either side of her head. He noticed her innocent confusion shinning through her eyes as she looked on at him.

He found her expression cute and the way she slowly tilted her head to face him did nothing but emphasize her purity.

"That book belongs here, you shouldn't just cut it up." Naruto spoke in a lecturing tone while thinking to himself.

'Like I'm someone to talk about the rules.'

Kotomi looked at him slightly bewildered and surprised.

He sighed and looked down at the book she had placed down and was about to cut, 'History and future of Astrophysics' its title read. Naruto being smart and having clones learning, building and studying books extensively knew of the involvement of Kotomi's parents to science, after all it was a topic of great interest to him.

'The theory of parallel worlds'.

Both of Kotomi's parents were theoretical physicists basing their latest research on string theory and were rumored in the science community to have solved the theory of everything. They were even scheduled to present their thesis in America, however a tragic accident happened.

Officially their plane crashed into the sea near the Alaskan coast, but no matter how much the search teams tried, the plane itself and the bodies was never found, instead having Kotomi's parents designated as dead.

He really wished that they were alive. He had lived long and travelled far seeing many children growing up without parents having tasted their love then losing it prematurely. That always left deep scars that wouldn't heal, Satsuki was just one of them.

He also wanted to know more on this topic and even designated a clone focusing on its area; sadly he hadn't been making much progress and for now his research on the parallel worlds theory was on hold.

Naruto looked around again noticing more books associated on quantum theory, astrophysics, wave functions, space and time theory. They were all high-level books being on university level science and to see her reading it openly showed him just how much of a genius she truly was. He on the other hand was only smart because of the maturity necessary in his previous line of work and access to the greatest intellectual cheat.

Shadow clones. (God what wouldn't I give for that ability)

Naruto looked back at her "Using your privileges to skip class as well?"

Kotomi lightly nodded to him before looking down to her side and picking up her bento covered in light yellow cloth and placing it on top of a book by her crossed legs.

She unsealed it in preparation to eat.

"I made it, this is the one most well done." she spoke cutely and slow pointing to the omelet portion of her bento.

"Although foods off limits in the library" Naruto looked around quickly

"Guess it really doesn't matter to us."

"Do you want one" she spoke softly again in her cute tone, eyes closed as if happy to provide.

"Hmm", Naruto walked forward and knelt down beside her

"All right since you offered so nicely" he spoke, stomach rumbling in anticipation.

"Huu" she sounded off in slow surprise.

"What's wrong?"

"I only have one pair of chopsticks."

"Oh don't worry about that" Naruto said moving his left arm behind his back and unsealing a pair from his wrist seal.

"I have a pair right here." Naruto motioned his hand forward showing a pair of plastic chopsticks between his fingers while reaching out and and taking a piece of omelet between them.

'Always have a pair on me after all I got to be prepared for any ramen emergency'.

Naruto moved the omelet to his mouth and ate it in one gulp, lightly chewing to appreciate its taste.

"It's good. Not to salty, not to sweet."

Kotomi beamed at the praise, eye's glistening in happiness as she smiled.

Getting back on his task Naruto went about to collect some electronic based books for some of the more 'personal' projects he had his clones working on. Sitting back down next to Kasumi cross-legged, he read the book silently, both appreciating each other's quiet company.

As time passed with homeroom fast approaching Naruto got back up, returned the book back to its rightful place before moving back towards Kasumi.

"Well got to go to class, see you later." He spoke casually as if they were mutual friends

Kasumi looked back at him and slowly responded

"See you later."

**Hallway:**

He walked to class and from the hallway he could hear Kyou talking with great emotion to Tomoya. Naruto only being several meters away and at the other end of the class entered through the front door while eavesdropping on their talk.

"What do you plan on saying in the middle of classroom?" Kyou spoke out in an angry whisper.

"What, the fact you rode a bi-" Kyou suddenly blocked his mouth with her hand.

"Do you want to get me suspended from school? You know commuting to school by bike is prohibited?"

A few seconds later Tomoya walked back to his seat. Naruto was already close by standing next to Ryou.

"Okazaki-kun, what were you talking about with Onee-chan?" Ryou spoke questioningly wondering what her sister wanted with Tomoya.

Tomoya looked at her and Naruto briefly before standing up with great vigor getting everyone attention in the room.

"Everyone, listen! Fujibayashi Kyou in class E is bi!"

Naruto faltered at his response, but internally was laughing how Tomoyo turned the situation around with his comical revenge from nearly running him over.

Everyone in class took a second to process his words then suddenly

"Eh!"

"Seriously?"

"Bi?" Ryou spoke confused by what Tomoya meant. That was until she looked at a trio of friends in the distance listening in on their words.

"Bi!?"

"She does it with guys and girls?"

"Yeah, she is kind of masculine." They spoke out before thinking deeply.

Naruto suddenly saw Kyou rush in ignoring the whispers and students and grab Tomoya suddenly by his tie, dragging him back outside.

Naruto and Ryou slowly followed behind.

"Why you…" she spoke slowly with great fury rising in her voice.

"Onee-chan, is what he said…" Ryou spoke concerned with eyes slightly watering.

"Why are you believing him!?" Kyou shouted back, antagonized by the entire situation while still holding Tomoya up in the air as if she were bullying him over lunch money.

Ryou took a napkin out comically crying.

Naruto found the whole situation funny and lightly giggled himself

Kyou finally took notice of his presence.

"N-N-Naruto… What he say's isn't true."

Naruto continued to lightly giggle.

"I know, it's bike, you were talking about your scooter."

**Lunch time: Rooftop**

As asked, Naruto travelled to the rooftop of the new school building during lunch period and awaited the arrival of Tomoyo.

The rooftop was currently void of students and Naruto passed the time looking down the wired fence and down the athletics yard, watching as the students went about their day playing sport, eating, talking or doing multiple at the same time.

Naruto heard the door of the roof creak open and as expected Tomoyo walked out, bento in hand. They locked eyes briefly before Naruto motioned to the seat bench on the side.

They sat there in silence for a minute eating their respectable lunch, then…

"Sensei… Naruto…" Tomoyo began hesitantly gulping between each word showing her insecurity with the following talk.

It had been years since they both saw each other since she arbitrarily left his training regime and only told him why in a phone call.

"It's nice seeing you again." She spoke again trying her best to start off the conversation as they sat next to each other.

"…Likewise" Naruto simply responded leaning back, also unsure what to say.

Naruto had made it a point to himself to never interfere in the lives of others so openly since it wasn't his place to. Everyone had problems, him especially and he learned the hard way that it is best for others to make their own decisions. Sure he'd guide and help them at times, but only if they asked. Life isn't so easy that one can be coddled all the way through.

There was a great deal of awkwardness rising in the air, either of them unsure what to do or say next.

"About…" They both spoke simultaneously looking at each other in sudden vigor and surprise.

There was a brief pause before Tomoyo spoke up

"You should go first Naruto."

"…Okay…" he simply responded.

Naruto took a brief pause for air to collect himself for his next words.

"Sorry that I couldn't see what was happening behind your back. I noticed your insecurity growing each time we trained and paid no heed to it. Had I paid closer attention your brother wouldn't have to had pay the price."

Naruto knew what happened having learned from her last call to him years ago. As much as he wanted to help, he couldn't do much for her brother Takafumi who lost his legs by throwing himself at oncoming traffic. He wasn't a medic ninja nor was medicine his expertise; the doctors at the hospital were more suited for that.

Naruto eventually lost contact with Tomoyo when she officially cut ties. He wasn't aware what was happening at home back then and assumed it was some form of teenage funk, not something so deep. Sure they weren't close back then sticking more to a teacher-student relationship with them barely scraping the friendship list, but he should have made his duty to watch his student more closely.

Time and time again Naruto learned the hard way to never keep others close and only maintain friendships from a hairs breath, something that could easily be severed and forgotten. Living life as a missing ninja and mercenary for hire had him witness countless deaths, some of which were people he knew, others close friends. Every time someone died he was either too late or too weak to save them.

As he entered this dimension he easily grew as an individual, but that was because he took all the hard lessons with him having the need for knowledge, strength and a constant focus on improvement.

Taking all the lessons from the elemental nations also meant taking those that were less suited for the world.

The need to keep others away.

He should have known better and in the end his lack of action resulted in his student getting hurt, changing her from the spriteful attitude he recognized her as to one that held a greater deal of seriousness.

In the end this world thrived on connection and friendship.

His old world thrived on war and death.

In that aspect he understood the direction Obito took and the desire he had for his dream to be realized.

He moved on from that lesson far too late having just recently befriended Tomoya and Youhei, his first real friends in the new world. Sure he wasn't brotherly close to them, but it was a start.

"It's not your fault. It's better you didn't get involved in things that had nothing to do with you, besides it was my choice to make by fighting out my frustration on the streets."

Naruto wasn't worried about that though, he was more worried he was acting like his parents did to him by abandoning her.

Naruto sighed. The interaction was depressing and he couldn't talk about it anymore with it dredging up bad memories. Deciding to change things he moved on from the subject.

"So how have things been with your brother Takafumi?" He spoke more upbeat, masking his frustrations.

"Things are good. He is still pending recovery, but that's making progress."

"Really that's good to hear. I was surprised to see you here having transferred in. Got a reason why?" He spoke out casually.

Tomoyo paused before speaking.

"I have a dream."

"…Ohhh… Want to share? From what I heard you're really popular amongst the girls, especially the way you handled the delinquents yesterday."

There was another pause accentuated by a light breeze passing by and the leaves caught in its draft.

"One time I brought Takafumi to view the cherry blossom trees near the school."

She paused thinking over what to say.

"I thought it would be nice to show him again."

She continued.

"Later I heard that the tree's was planned to be leveled to make way for construction. I want to preserve them so I can view them with Takafumi again and to do that I needed to transfer here and become the student council president." She finished looking up at the sky, Naruto also following suite.

"I see… That must be nice, caring for your family deeply" Naruto spoke softly more to himself than to her.

"Naruto?" She wondered confused, she looked at his eyes seeing the multitude of emotions behind them.

"Sorry, just a stray thought" he spoke back putting his personal feelings aside.

"Don't you worry, you have my full support" he spoke out confidently with a grin while also stretching his right hand out in a thumbs up gesture.

"Friends" he held his hand out for a handshake.

"Friends"

They both shook to it. Truly it was the start of a new friendship and they smiled at each other before looking back at the passing clouds.

"Oh I forgot, you had something you wanted to say" Naruto spoke up breaking Tomoyo out of her sky daze.

"I was wondering lately, why are you friends with Sunohara and Okazaki?" She spoke up, slightly concerned as she looked at him.

It was unlike Naruto to befriend delinquents at all and for him to hang around them, even with all the rumors, it confused her.

"Actually they were my first real friends here. I use to keep to myself when I transferred in for the scholarship and privileges. Truth be told they kind of reminded me of me when I was younger." He spoke out reminiscing over the memory.

"It's actually and interesting story, it goes…"

For the rest of lunch Tomoyo and Naruto talked, catching up as friends.

(This segment will be in future chapters lol…)

**Saturday:**

It was half day today and as expected Youhei and Tomoya weren't present for classes. He didn't skip as much as they did and would have skipped the day legitimately if he weren't curious and concerned over Kotomi in the library. Instead he sat through the final class slightly dozing off to sleep.

**Dream:**

Three years have passed since the return of the Namikaze family to Konoha followed by the dream of the levitating girl. Naruto had woken up the next day still soaking wet in a forest a fair distance away from Konoha. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he didn't bother making his way back and instead firmed his decision of starting a new life elsewhere.

Looking back he didn't really have anything to return to, the only people that really cared for him there was Ayame and Teuchi and they weren't significantly close keeping more to the good customer type relationship. Besides the torture he went underwent there was more than enough of a disincentive to return.

As soon as he awoke Naruto had felt something off about himself, something different and it was as if he was brimming with strength and power. Testing himself out he flicked his wrist here and there eventually discovering his ability to make portals that opened pathways to different locations.

To him it was like the flying thunder god technique, only better and personalized since he didn't need the use of seals. To top it off his technique didn't use chakra and instead strained him every time it was in use.

Still he was lost having little to no knowledge outside Konoha due to sabotages in school and had instead spent the better part of the week wondering around from town to town stealing and scavenging through bins while practicing his power whenever he could.

As weeks passed he eventually found himself apprenticed by Zabuza Momochi, a missing ninja of the Kirigakure. It was poetic in a way being apprenticed by a missing ninja from another village, him too being the same. Sure he had yet to find himself in the bingo book, but he still felt himself being one having scratched his headband long ago.

He still remembered their first meeting, treasuring it as a special moment.

**Dream flashback**

Naruto was again spending his time scavenging through trashcans in another random village he came across. He had discarded his old, torn and tattered jumpsuit and instead wore long black pants and a red t-shirt he had stolen from a random shop.

Naruto was hungry and needed to eat soon. He was loosing energy fast from continuously practicing his newfound power and travelling to and fro from village to village. He had been lucky so far having extensive experience in scavenging through bins and surviving on the streets, but even he could tell his experience will only get him so far.

Naruto continued to scavenge through the trash looking for anything to eat; even as the sky darkened and rain began pouring down he wouldn't give up just yet. As minutes passed Naruto, soaking wet from the rain had found himself a half eaten bag of chips by one of the bins. He was about to dig into it with vigor and just as he dug his hand inside, he felt something move.

Letting go of the bag of chips quickly he threw it to the side noticing a handful of cockroaches running out as he did so. Slumping by the wall in defeat he took a breather by the shaded wall, hoping the feeling of hunger will pass.

"You know kid, you pretty determined."

Naruto suddenly swerved his head to the right and jumped up in preparation for a fight, blunt kunai in already in hand. He looked to his right noticing a tall man leaning by the wall with arms crossed. He had a noticeably large sword strapped to his back and white bandages covering lower face. What Naruto found most striking was the headband tied on his head with a very noticeable scratch going through the middle.

'A missing ninja!' he thought to himself worried.

He was in no position to defend himself having starved all day and being far too weak to use his better abilities. Worse yet his only weapon was a blunt kunai. The man he was looking at was clearly experienced and had a sword thicker than his waist that could easily bisect him.

There was nothing Naruto could do against him if it came down to a fight.

Naruto looked on at the man, both keeping eye contact with one another with the only sound of poring rain in the background.

"I noticed your headband."

'Headband?' Naruto thought to himself before remembering he hadn't taken it off. He kept it on as a sign of his determination and it remained an important memento of his fallen teacher.

"So what's your story kid? Missing ninja's don't often happen at your age." The man spoke again with his rough voice, curiosity present in his tone.

Naruto remained silent and completely focused on his target.

"I don't want to talk about it." He replied seriously while his stomach grumbled lightly in hunger.

Another small silence followed, tension growing by the second.

"That's your business kid, but seeing your in need of food and training how about you join me."

Normally Naruto would have replied with a witty remark like 'your not a pedophile are you?' but considering his position and the experience the man held, any free hand out was important.

Thinking over the man's offer again he weighed the advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage was he didn't know anything about the man or his real intentions and could be planning almost anything behind his back. The advantage was he would be trained and raised by an experienced shinobi making him stronger to protect himself and any friends he makes.

That alone outweighed the any disadvantage he could think of.

Deciding it was for the best he nodded to the stranger while putting away his blunt kunai. It wouldn't have helped out much anyway.

The man straightened himself and walked forward to him stopping only meters away, the rain doing nothing but enforcing his might as it ran down his clothes.

"What's your name kid?" He spoke authoritatively, eyes not holding any warmth or kindness.

"Naruto… Naruto Uzumaki. Who are you mister?" He spoke still slightly tense.

"Zabuza… Zabuza Momochi."

**Dream flashback end:**

Joining up with the missing ninja Zabuza proved to be a good idea and he had already made his first friend Haku, who was also apprenticed to Zabuza under the guise of her being his 'weapon'. Naruto didn't like that idea, but as time passed he knew it was much deeper than that comparing it more to a father-daughter relationship. He of course never said it out aloud.

Through Haku he found someone similar to himself having been discarded and feared for her power. Just like him she was forced to take to the streets and rummage through bins for scraps of food having only been saved by Zabuza and accepting her role as his weapon. Sure he was seeing Zabuza as a father figure and all, but to see Haku devote herself as his weapon worried him. It was like him accepting his role as a weapon of Konoha, which he will never become by the way.

Still Naruto could sympathize with her outlook and position. He was the same in the past at one point, but now he just leaned towards looking out for himself and living life as he wanted to. Such an outlook of course brought the group to clash heads with one another, but it was all in good fun with nothing too serious.

Through the years Naruto trained with the help of Zabuza growing considerably, especially when he discovered the memory retention use of his shadow clones. He trained in various aspects of the ninja field particularly Kenjustsu, Ninjutsu, taijutsu and fuinjutsu. Although he lacked the Genjutsu capability his chakra capacity made it extremely difficult for him to be affected so he was mainly safe in that area.

As he practiced in the Ninjutsu field he came to a startling discovery, he had two main affinities, water and wind, just like Haku. He knew it wasn't bloodline related, as he was sure he had no relation to the Yuki clan, but he had been wrong before. Still it brought about interesting prospects and he was happy as it made Haku happy. For the moment though he had little ninjutsu repertoire for the wind element since his partners were water-based fighters so it was something he was looking forward to rectifying in the future.

Haku on the other hand took it upon herself to focus on Senbon based attacks, Taijutsu, her ice release bloodline and studying the medical field. She struggled with medicine as she didn't have a proper teacher with missing medical ninja being extremely rare, so she made do with what she could find in scrolls and books.

In the team Haku acted as long range and medical support, Zabuza as the main heavy hitter and Naruto acting as the balance. His portals acted as good attacking points for Haku and her Senbon while his clones acted as distractions as they attacked close range.

Overall they were an effective team.

As time passed Naruto got a better grasp on his teleportation power, while keeping its use to the minimum and hiding it as much possible. The sudden rumor of another bloodline associated with him running around would cause far too much trouble bringing about hunter ninja from all over the elemental nations, especially from Konoha. He was now able to teleport around within a kilometer radius while making multiple portals at once. In time he knew this would improve.

The primary goal of the trio was to gather strength and resources to fight Yagura and end the bloodline purge. In order to do so they needed to grow stronger and gather what they could for the rebellion and the best way to do so was as mercenaries for hire outside water country. So far their missions were bodyguard based and package deliveries with little to no hiccups other than prospecting bandits. Now they were on the shore of Nami no Kuni due to Zabuza having received a job assassinating a bridge builder.

Naruto didn't like the idea instead opting to assassinate Gato and take his money due to his less trustful dealings and his reputation in backstabbing mercenaries he hires. Then again the team was pretty strong and he was sure they could handle anything Gato sends their way.

**End**

**Some important replies**

**As to why there wasn't an epic battle scene where Naruto schools her. Why would there be? He's a bit more mature and do what you want kind of guy and follow your own path, why, he was a missing ninja made through the tortures of Konoha. For Tomoyo to be 'beating down' delinquents who are causing trouble for normal people compared to a hired assassin killing them off. It's child's justice and as far as anyone would see in his position, nothing wrong. He could see that there was a problem and as I'm developing a Naruto that believes in following your own path, there is no problem with his development for the moment.**

**Also Tomoyo and Naruto at that time didn't have a deep relationship sticking to teacher and student in her childhood having not gone further at the point it really wasn't his place to interfere. Again I stress the point this is a slightly different Naruto with a bit more negative view on the world having snapped and all. I did make him abandon the elemental nations at their moment of victory after all.**

**As for finding out his maturity, you can essentially think that there will be two fic's running at the same time, one primarily based on dreams and flashbacks on important events, the other on Clannad allowing character development. Probably should put mystery as my genre.**

**As for Youhei being his friend. He is. As to why I chose that path, hard love really and he knew she wouldn't hurt him badly after all she made it into their prestigious school after all the rumors surrounding her and with him close by he knew she wouldn't take it too far. He knows he won't end up in the hospital and from what Youhei spoke, he sort of deserved it considering there was a slight hint of him saying he promised her body to the delinquents and he is the clear instigator. Although I could add a line in that part I see Naruto as a carefree guy and there really is no need for it, especially with Youhei being persistent and all.**

**As for friendships, due to his life Naruto won't be exceptionally close and loyal like Cannon, he will grow to care deeply and stuff but as chapters progress I will be showing the stuff that happened as he is a missing ninja. I'm changing this to M, simply can't do T.**

**Again I stress he was a missing ninja having to go the hard yards in life. If he was so caring and loving like Cannon Naruto he wouldn't have left in the first place and there won't be a story to tell. He didn't have deep friendships back in the Elemental nations due to being on the run and what relationships I develop there will be a crossroads in his flashbacks or some other deep crap I'll reveal later. Sort of have a knack in that area.**

**I left holes to be specifically filled later on, also personality problems are pretty hard to argue as they can be subjected to change such as what you eat, what you see and stuff. They aren't as linear as people generally make them out to be otherwise humans wouldn't be special.**

**Final comment:**

**Now, as I mentioned before this story was produced from a sudden inspirational urge. I'm not entirely sure how things will go with this story and I will endeavor not to abandon it. I have a slight plot set up reminiscent of shuffle with the opening of the gates, but instead with the elemental nations. That major development however isn't happening for a while so for now it will be Naruto and Clannad with flashbacks to Konoha and his life. Don't expect much action in this story as it is drama based.**

**As for relationships, I have no idea as of yet. As you know Clannad is harem based, however I'm not making it a harem, at least that's where my thoughts are leaning for the moment. That's up for debate. Right now I want to focus on interactions.**

**So how was the chapter? Review if there is something you want or like and if it's good I'll consider it. Also no flames, I want a detailed constructive review so I can improve and adapt.**

**There is nothing more annoying and stupid than a flame from a reviewer only to find he or she hasn't written a single story and have only been reading other peoples work. Those people are what destroy the enjoyment of writing fanfiction leading to stories being abandoned prematurely.**

**Don't be one of them.**

**Read and Review.**


	4. Chapter 4: Rippling Waves

**Clannad and the Missing Ninja**

**Authors Notes:**

**I watched through the Fuko ark and skipped a bit cause I got to say that part really sucked. I even remembered having skipped the whole marriage drama stuff first time round watching it. People may or may not like it but I sure as hell don't, besides is was trying to develop Tomoya's and Nagisa's relationship and fortunately for me and you guys the story doesn't revolve around them and instead its around Naruto. This is good cause I believe this story would be done sooner, somewhere around 20 chapters. I have plans on doing one shots breaking off with what happens if he goes for someone else or another take on Elemental nations involvement, but that won't happen for a while, maybe in a month or so. I may expand on the Fuko arc in the future and do a redo, but looking at things that's not likely going to happen.**

**Below is more of a time skip summary for the Clannad area or such since I disliked Fuko's ark as she pays little to no role in my Clannad ideas, hell I had forgotten she existed for a while until I watched episode 3 I think. Just know my next chapter developments in Clannad will improve and be far more significant after all it is Kotomi based… I think below your going to like my take on the wave ark, as far as I know it's mainly an original idea, haven't read anything on someone taking it my way in neglect fics. Some of you may want me to expand on it with my writing by creating a Naruto fic alone, but can't do so yet till the end of the month till my tests are completely over. Besides I already have a basis for it in this fic. Major future spoilers here.**

**Some of you may think I should have expanded more on Haku and Naruto, and your right, but I started off as a Clannad crossover and I will finish as such. Also some of you reviewed or PM'd me that I should just do my own neglect fic with my take on it, and your definitely right. Thinking over my idea of a neglect fic with Naruto and stuff, I got to say the idea I have is pretty nice, your just seeing small important events. After I finish my stuff I'll write my own and expand on the story as the prequel. Hell, I may base it so he goes to another dimension cause looking at it Clannad is playing the more supportive role for Naruto. I can't seem to get it up cause it's a parody like in a way and although linear, isn't as adrenaline pumping as Naruto anime/ manga**

**Chapter 4: Rippling Waves**

**Fuko Ark summary**

For the past several days Naruto had delved deeper into his friendship with Tomoyo by starting with the small things like eating together on the occasion and helping out with Tomoyo's goal in increasing her influence. It didn't mean he didn't still hang out with Tomoya and Youhei, on the contrary it was just less and besides they usually had their own thing going on like Tomoya taking an initiative in helping Nagisa realize her dream and Youhei causing his own mischief.

As time passed Naruto and Youhei were dragged into the drama club's movement, both happy to help out. Youhei warned Tomoya at first with him having bad experiences with clubs, but eventually decided to help his friend out regardless of his own inner turmoil. This was of course was also brought about through the extra push Tomoya gave by tricking him over his actual reasons for helping, that being the horrid bread from Nagisa's family's bakery. Seeing it was good fun he said nothing.

Naruto on the other hand was completely fine helping Tomoya and the drama club out as he didn't have any emotional baggage associated with clubs. He just didn't join them at the time not being ready to commit himself to friendships just yet. In the end it worked out in his favor having encountered Youhei and Tomoya in their funk and befriending them, hell he'd even commit himself to the club so long as more members popped up. It was just unfortunate that Tomoya and Youhei were persistent in just helping out, but considering their circumstances he wasn't at all surprised about it.

Naruto had also begun to notice the growing relationship between Nagisa and Tomoya regardless of their denial and from what he could see it was only a matter of time before they officially got together, so long as they both expressed themselves at some point.

As some things changed, others stayed the same. Youhei's persistence in challenging Tomoyo only increased with each defeat disregarding the amount of bruises he received. It was becoming funnier each time he watched starting from his blatant accusations that Tomoyo was a man in disguise to trying to trap her with words and actions. He even attempted to lead her inside the male bathrooms at one point making him to lightly giggle every time at the memory. Each time Youhei tried something though he'd end up riddled with kicks and bruises, yet somehow retain functionality to attend school.

Naruto had also begun spending more and more time in the library skipping the more boring and knowledgeable classes he knew and using his privileges just to provide company to Kotomi. Through her he saw Haku, sure she wasn't focused on becoming a weapon of someone close to her, but she still had the same focus and determination in her eyes as she continually read through books, why he didn't know. Just like Haku she was also kind and pure hearted having not been drawn into the horrors of reality and because of that he couldn't help but be drawn to her.

As the days passed Nagisa and Tomoya asked him for help with a girl named Fuko Ibuki. Every time he looked at her he felt something odd, he wasn't sure what it was and it definitely wasn't chakra related, but he couldn't help but feel disturbed by her presence. Still he appreciated her personality with it being a refreshing sight, even going so far as to enjoy the irregular banter between her and Tomoya.

Naruto helped out in their activities when he could such as spending a Saturday showing her what class was like and even helped out in the distribution of stars, or what he later found out was starfish. Apparently with him helping out there was a more positive impact on their plight towards the female portion of the school, some even going as far to create a fan club over Fuko's dilemma and her dream for the students to attend her sister's wedding.

As Fuko's health deteriorated everyone began to slowly forget her existence. He still retained all his memories and even went to the extra effort to visit the real Fuko Ibuki in hospital taking notice that she and the one he actively saw were the same. He at first didn't see her as the ghost of the school rumored to be passing out a cursed item, nor was he sure she was one, but there was definitely something going on and just when he finds something supernatural about the ordeal, he has no idea how to investigate it.

Slowly Fuko's fading existence became widespread with nearly everyone that had received her starfish forgetting about her. Naruto, Tomoya and Nagisa didn't forget and kept the Starfish they treasured close to heart, as did everyone else who received it.

Slowly their friends lost their memories of Fuko; first it was Kyou and Ryou, then Youhei and then Tomoyo. It was sad for Youhei to loose what he remembered as he had been particularly active helping her cause, but for some reason Naruto could feel his determination still influencing him beyond the memories and it made him happy. Eventually Tomoya and Nagisa also began to slowly forget who she was but at the same time still retain their purpose with the whole ordeal bringing them closer together.

Eventually the marriage ceremony took place in the school on Sunday between Kouko and the popular music artist Yusuke, regardless of Fuko having been forgotten by all but him Tomoya and Nagisa.

They too lost their memories.

At first it seemed no one from school would come to the wedding, but as Yusuke and Kouko exited the building everyone who had received a star from Fuko was accounted for and present.

The entire event was possible with Fuko's determination and before completely disappearing she greeted her sister one last time wishing her happiness.

In the end Fuko's feeling managed to get across to everyone.

(I'm kicking her off the story here, no appearances by her. Just a heads up)

**Dreams**

**Wave Arc**

Naruto dodged another slash from Kushina as she attempted to bisect him again effectively demonstrating her moniker 'the red death of Konoha'. Naruto wasn't fairing too well against her, but from what he could make out Zabuza still had a decent shot in taking down Kakashi, especially with the hidden mist Jutsu in play in combination with his silent killing technique. Haku on the other hand appeared nearly done dealing with Satsuki stuck inside the ice mirror dome as she launched barrages of her senbon against her.

When the team ambushed the bridge builder by the lake Naruto was surprised and angered to find that the team guarding him was from Konoha. To top it off it consisted with people he had some form of connection with, most of which were bad. Team seven as he heard consisted of Satsuki Uchiha his old rival, Sakura Haruno his old crush, Kakashi Hatake an unknown, Naruko Namikaze his bastard twin and Kushina Namikaze his soon to kill mother.

The bridge builder as described by Gato was an old drunk that easily showed in his age and the slight wobble in each step. Being an easy target they assumed it would be an easy payday, unfortunately it didn't turn out as easy as they thought with him managing to hire some of the more famous ninja from Konoha, something Naruto nearly snapped violently against giving away his position on the tree.

Naruto had to rein in his anger the entire fight as he watched Zabuza face off against the two Jonin. Zabuza wasn't expected to win facing the two, but the plan was that he would fight them, gauge and observe their moves and as he was about to lose Naruto and Haku would disable him as hunter ninja and take him away from the field for later recovery.

As expected the entire plan went off without a hitch and the Konoha shinobi didn't know any better. They had spent the week analysing their techniques and teamwork coming up with strategies to either bypass them or take them down.

Currently Naruto, Zabuza and Haku were facing the majority of team 7 at the bridge who appeared alert and ready. It was clear that they weren't as big dumbasses Naruto had thought of them as, instead having been able to see behind their ruse and prepare for combat.

When they saw Naruto in his hunter ninja guise on the bridge they had questioned him why he had a scratched Konoha ninja headband on him. His simple reply was he killed a Konoha ninja and took it, no sense on them making guesses on who he was after all.

Although they were outnumbered the opposing team was still missing a member, Naruko who likely at the bridge builders house. Still they didn't have much of an advantage with whom they were facing and attempted to resolve the problem by splitting into one on one combat pieces since two elite Jonin working together with backup wasn't tactically brilliant. Their team may have been strong, but considering they were of the higher class of Jonin, Kakashi of the Sharingan and Konoha's Red death, it was important they kept them separate.

As expected and strongly enforced by Naruto he would face Kushina one on one. Normally he would be expected to loose against the Kenjustsu and fuinjutsu master with the addition of her being a former jinchuriki, but he had the advantage of his surroundings having water and three distinct aces to use in the event of an emergency, his unique teleportation ability, access to the Kyubi's chakra and shadow clones.

Naruto had met the beast when he was training several months ago when Zabuza had knocked him out. As expected they were at ends with each other, but even so he was sure Kyubi wouldn't mind lending his chakra against his old container, especially with his own experiences of having been restrained under her chakra chains for years.

So far the fight didn't end up as advantageous to him as he had hoped having been pushed back constantly with her ninjutsu techniques followed by chakra chains. He had realized too late that his core affinity for the water element had come from his bastard mother and he should have known earlier since the Uzumaki clan lived in a village surrounded by whirlpools near 'Water Country', truly an oversight on his part. As expected his water advantage at the bridge turned mute with either's ninjutsu comparable to each other, Naruto with his vast range of water techniques taught by Zabuza and Haku while Kushina had greater power and experience behind her pressurized attacks.

Had he not trained extensively with Zabuza with the addition of using mental warfare and tactics he would have lost already. In terms of power and skill he was only around high Chunin while she was a definite elite Jonin in addition to being older with years of experience. There was a big difference between them and he wouldn't be able to buy time for long. It was up to Haku and Zabuza to finish their fight and back him up once they were done.

Dodging to the right and parrying another sword strike with his katana, he created multiple shadow clones in order to pin her down while he rained kunai's on her with explosive tags attached.

Kushina was surprised that he was able to use shadow clones with it being an A-rank kinjutsu due to the chakra requirements, yet this child in front of her was using it with ease. Just who was she was facing?

In the end Naruto's clones did not effectively complete their task as they were dispelled with multiple chakra chains sent their way while the original jumped sideways in a dodge while counteracting the attack by throwing the kunai at her, lighting the explosive notes attached.

Naruto wasn't in an advantageous position, but wasn't willing to reveal his aces just yet as he had to keep what he could in check and wait for the right moment. Once he did he had to kill his opponent and ensure his power remained a secret, something he was more than happy to follow through with against Kushina.

He watched from his peripheral vision as Haku used her bloodline ace, demonic ice mirrors against Satsuki. Naruto didn't really have anything against her, sure he was beaten up pretty badly by her time and time again in academy, but that's because he challenged her to fights constantly. Looking at it now it must have been draining on her nerves, still it did help him improve leaps and bounds being the only proper training he got back there. It was just unfortunate that she was in the way of their mission and therefore an enemy.

The fight's across the bridge was suddenly interrupted by a boisterous voice shouting out.

"Naruko's arrived, give it up bad guy's!" She spoke upbeat and enthusiastic, ready for combat.

Naruto grew a tick mark at the 'bad guys' remark. As far as he was concerned Konoha were the bad guys and to simply lay one side of the story with two words made him want to punch her. To top it off she had training with her 'family' and she just blurted her position out with no regards to stealth at all. Was she even smart?

What was striking about her appearance though was that her style of clothes had changed with her wearing an orange jumpsuit; similar to what Naruto wore during his time inside Konoha. It confused him greatly why she wore the ugly suit when she had access to better clothes. Regardless he didn't care either way.

Naruto watched as his twin charged into the center of Haku's mirrors. She may be at a disadvantage against numbers having to deal with two opponents, but Naruko's stupid move had just cost her, her life. With Haku's technique in play and her enemies already inside, she was at a clear advantage against them.

Still he wasn't a fool and knew his twin would be hard to beat, especially with Minato and Kushina as her teachers and the Yin part of the Kyubi inside her. Haku would be hard pressed fighting against her if she rampaged with its chakra on the battlefield.

"Your daughter is pretty stupid." Naruto spoke evenly with his voice and his appearance still different with the seals in the mask.

He parried another katana strike from Kushina as well as her chakra chains and responded in kind by sending condense water bullets out his mouth and towards her.

As Kushina dodged and cut the pressurized bullets she replied, slight anger in her tone followed by an enthusiastic smirk.

"Naruko may have charged in recklessly, but she's strong and she'll kick your stupid team mate's ass."

Naruto's wittily responded to that

"Just like your other son Naruto?" He spoke evenly hiding as much emotion he can from his voice to enhance the mental effect.

He watched as Kushina flinched and taking the opening he launched shuriken at her before charging in for the attack.

Kushina easily blocked his attacks and parried his strikes forcing them to break apart again.

"I and just about every ninja in the elemental nations had heard of your return to the line of duty, 'Red death of Konoha'", He spoke, guard still up in case she responded with an attack.

"But that's not all we heard."

"We heard that as the Namikaze family returned to Konoha, one had been there the entire time…"

Kushina flinched again, eyes full of emotion.

"Your other son and Jinchuriki of the Kyubi, Naruto Uzumaki." He spoke again slowly and as dramatic as possible to weaken her resolve.

He wouldn't openly express it, but he did enjoy seeing his bastard of a mother suffer under his words and why shouldn't he? He had every right to be angry with her.

He continued.

"Tell me Kushina, how did you feel when you watched your son take in the news that he had been abandoned at birth. Tell me how did you feel when he broke under the pressure of constant hardship and neglect." He spoke, emotion starting to seep into his voice no matter how hard he tried to repress it.

"Tell me Kushina, as the previous host to the Kyubi, did you feel happy?" He spoke slowly as it were an actual question.

"Did you feel happy Kushina!?" He spoke faster with more power behind his voice to illiterate his point.

Looking on he watched as Kushina began crying and her sword wobbled slightly. She was loosing her resolve and Naruto was at the advantage. Taking that as the opening he'd been waiting for he quickly created a portal with the other linking to her back and charged forward in a sword strike.

For a normal ninja it would have been the end, however instead of his Katana meeting her flesh directly, it met several chakra chains swerving his point of impact slightly having him missed giving her a critical blow. Still the wound was extensive and deep, blood seeping into her Jonin clothes dying it red and a large gash mark by her side.

Suddenly more chains erupted from her back forcing Naruto back through the portal and having to cut it off for a withdrawal. He was back where he started, but instead Kushina was on the defensive, heavily injured and on the ground panting hard in her attempt to stem the injury and the pain.

'Wh… What was that'? Kushina thought coming back to her senses though the great deal of pain.

'It looked like a portal, but how could he do it? Is it a bloodline?'

Naruto now held the advantage. Kushina was weakened significantly and had she not reacted in time she would be dead. the stalemate between the teams was broken and Naruto and his team was winning.

Naruto wanted to spit on the floor, but behind the mask couldn't do so and just opted to speak angry with her.

"Your daughter shouted that we're the 'bad guys', but as far as I see it it's the other way around. You Konoha shinobi make me sick, 'Will of Fire', what a joke. Tell me Kushina how's your reputation? How's Konoha's reputation? With what's happened I'm not surprised missing ninja and mercenaries have more jobs to work with. In the end your village is no different from the rest."

Kushina was saddened; every word the missing ninja in front of her spoke stung her. He was right, Konoha had a decline in missions due to their reputation of child abusers spreading throughout the elemental nations. They were no longer seen as the kind and special village, instead they were seen just like a normal shinobi village that held place of the strongest.

Her sadness then slowly turned to anger, then determination. Who was he to say that all of Konoha was bad?

No one was perfect and everyone made mistakes. Everyone had their regrets, Kushina especially, but she won't let her child down, no she won't let Naruto, Naruko or Narumi down ever again.

**Kushina mini flashback**

"N…Naruko. Why are you wearing that orange jumpsuit?"

"Because it reminds me of Nii-san. He went through so much while we lived happily together." She spoke, a far away look in her eyes before they changed.

"I don't know where he is, but I do know he's not dead. I can feel it and I will bring him back, apologize to him and make things right… No matter what it takes," She spoke, a great deal of determination seeping through her voice and eyes.

Kushina smiled at that. She had been depressed all week, but to see Naruko determined to correct hers and Minato's mistakes, it showed her that there was still hope left.

**Kushina mini flashback end**

Naruto continued to speak, unaware of her changing demeanor.

"How's Naruto by the way, oh, that's right, you don't know. Some parents you are abandoning him to the life of an outcast and letting him be brutalized for no reason at all. People call Zabuza demon of the mist, but who's the real demon here!?"

"You don't even know if he's alive or dead!" Naruto shouted angry with her and no longer being able to contain his emotions.

Had he done so and spoke monotone, thing may have been different.

"Even so" Kushina began softly and low almost unheard by Naruto.

Flashbacks to recent memories of her daughters began to fill her mind

'I want to find Nii-san' Narumi's words rang through her mind

'I will apologize to Nii-san and make things right' Naruko's conviction rang through.

"Even So!" Kushina spoke louder again far more determined than before alerting Naruto of the coming plight.

"I will find him and make things right!"

Suddenly with great fury and vigor Kushina rushed forward in preparation to swing her sword with chakra chains erupting all around. Naruto having prepared for the eventual counter attack stood firm and ready to take her assault. It was going to be tough as a determined opponent is a dangerous opponent, but fortunately for him he had already significantly injured her allowing the fight to be on a more even playing field.

The sudden cry followed by a roar in the distance had Naruto swerve his head slightly taking notice of Haku being beaten out of her ice mirror's and bouncing across the wet bridge slightly burnt and injured. It was as he feared, his twin had begun using the Kyubi's chakra. Naruto tried to break off combat with Kushina and assist Haku, however in doing so Kushina had taken advantage of his distraction attacking him suddenly with her katana at a greater level of speed.

Naruto barely dodged the attack, but his mask bore some damage getting slashed from one point to the next. With the material of the mask being ceramic in order to accommodate henge based seals, the mask cracked lightly. It wouldn't be long till the mask itself gave way under pressure.

With the dodge Naruto had managed to get a better view of the situation inside the ice dome and saw Satsuki on the ground. She wasn't breathing but he knew she wasn't dead. Haku was a pure hearted soul just caught up in the world like him. Deep down as much as Naruto wanted to deny it, she wasn't a ninja, she didn't possess the desire to kill. From that alone and from seeing the positions of the senbon on Satsuki he concluded she wasn't dead but in the death like state she put Zabuza in a week prior.

As much as he wanted to interfere in her fight and help her out he was stuck in the middle of an even more important one. Him breaking it off would lead to an easy counterattack on their enemy's part or place significant strain against Zabuza. That couldn't happen.

Naruto continued to fight against Kushina launching sword strikes and variety of water based ninjutsu while paying close attention with Zabuza and Haku's fight. As far as he can see Zabuza was fighting well with his use of water techniques and although Haku had lost the edge had instead engaged her enemy in conversation. What she was talking about he had no idea, but it was buying them time for Zabuza and him to collect themselves.

Suddenly in a split second the field of battle changed. Zabuza was captured in the grip of Kakashi. He was being held down by ninja dog summons that were biting into him deeply and weakening his nerve reactions and muscles. He watched when Kakashi suddenly charged his hand with condensed electricity shouting 'Chidori' followed by a forward charge at Zabuza. He tried creating a portal to get to him in time, but instead was pushed back from his concentration by Kushina having sent more of her chakra chains at him.

She had recognized what he had planned and prevented him from focusing enough to providing aid to Zabuza. He could see it in her eyes, that she was angry, yet firm. She truly was an elite Jonin.

Naruto dodged continuously watching on in slow motion.

He watched on as the horrible scene unfolded in front of his eyes.

He watched as Haku suddenly jumped out of an ice mirror right beside Zabuza.

She jumped right in front of him taking the full force of the attack as it pierced her through her right chest, blood seeping into her clothes and flying in all directions as it dug deep, front and back.

Haku wouldn't survive from the attack and he knew it.

"Noooo!" Naruto cried out.

Breaking out of Kushina's relentless attack he created a portal by flicking his wrist and jumping through. He didn't care about the repercussions, he was angry and his friend was dying. The chakra of the Kyubi began pouring through his body and as Zabuza countered with a downward slash. He on the other hand created a portal behind Kakashi's designated landing zone and slashed at him with as much fury as he could.

Unfortunately Kakashi had managed a substitution Jutsu in time saving his sorry ass from Naruto's vengeance.

Naruto knew he had just given away his identity with the Kyubi's chakra pouring through him, but he didn't care. He wanted them dead.

As he faced team seven in anger, Kakashi and his 'mother', his mask cracked more under the power of the chakra destroying the henge seals place inside. As the mask cracked, his right eye became visibly with the Kyubi slit and his hair colour changing back to blond causing a slight gasp from the group.

He watched their surprised expressions as the mist cleared, Zabuza not being in a position to maintain the Jutsu. He looked on at their horrified expressions, Naruko and Satsuki's watching side-by-side as they recovered while Sakura looked on shocked as she continued to stand protectively by Tazuna, kunai slightly wobbling in hand.

Just before he was about to give in to his bloodlust completely and charge at them in anger, the unfinished portion of the bridge diverted everyone's attention as they heard a light, but evident clapping sound.

As everyone turned they saw a small stubby man in a business suit with a cane upfront and a pair of round black sunglasses covering his eyes. Most noticeable of all was the small army of thugs behind him wielding a vast assortment of weapons that would frighten the less prepared.

"Ohh… you're getting your ass kicked Zabuza, how disappointing" spoke Gato as he looked on at the carnage on the battlefield.

"Gato, why are you here and what's with all these men!?" Zabuza spoke up in slight confusion and anger, likely knowing where the situation was heading.

"Hehehe… The plan has changed, well actually I planned this from the beginning."

"Zabuza, I'm going to have you and your brats killed here. I never planned on paying you or those runts with you any money..." he continued cockily with a grin.

Naruto was by now was facing the ground doing his best to control his anger. They had taken a dangerous mission and in the end would have met betrayal instead of pay and to top it off Haku was dying.

Gato not noticing Naruto's agitation or not caring continued confident his army of thugs could deal with Shinobi.

"Hiring a normal ninja from the village is expensive and they may betray me so I get you missing-nins who are easy to dispose of afterwards. I have the ninjas battle each other and once they're weakened I kill them off with numbers. It doesn't cost me anything. A good plan don't you think?" He spoke, a smirk growing on his face while he did so.

"The only problem in the plan was you and your brats Zabuza, the devil of the hidden mist? What a joke if you ask me"

"Hehe… You're just a cute little baby devil."

The group of thugs behind Gato roared in approval

"We can easily kill you now!"

Zabuza turned to Naruto noticing his silent anger then towards the group of Konoha ninja, Kubikiribocho still in hand while the other still too damaged to move.

"This fight is over. We have no reason to go after Tazuna." He spoke as he lifted sword in preparation for a fight against the thugs.

Naruto however was still looking at the ground about to burst out in anger. The Konoha ninja may have critically hurt Haku, but all her harm, all his emotional pain and blowing off his power aces and cover was all because of the midget he was facing. All because they took a mission from a client with a bad reputation and to top it off he never planned to pay them.

"Oh yeah. I owe this one", Gato spoke looking towards the severely injured Haku several meters in front of him.

"Pity, she would have made a fine slave."

Naruto snapped at that comment and charged at Gato before he could take a step forward with Zabuza following. In response Gato ran back behind the army of thugs using them as meat shields for the coming fight.

"You guys are dead!" The thugs roared in approval as they charged towards Naruto and Zabuza.

As the two sides approached the ones up front began to notice the visible redish orange cloak surrounding Naruto as well as creating a small layer around his katana. As he got closer they began to hesitate as Naruto roared behind his mask creating a mini shockwave frightening the shinobi upfront, his mask crumbling as he did so.

Beside him Zabuza was showcasing his own aura demonstrating why he was referred to as the demon of the mist. Behind him his chakra visibly poured out surrounding him as a large blue hanyou face appeared.

With the demonic charges of Both Naruto and Zabuza, moral for the thugs dropped

"De… Demons" the ones in front cried out in fear as they took steps back, away from the monsters in front of them.

As the thugs looked on at the charging demons they saw the anger, fury and pain behind their eyes, their facial expressions plastering a desire for vengeance burning through.

Most importantly they felt their oppressive auras as hatred pouring out.

The thugs upfront hesitated and tried to take steps back as Naruto and Zabuza continued to charge, the thugs behind bumping into those in front knocking them forward.

5 meters, 3 meters, no meters

As Naruto reached the thugs he swung wildly bisecting others and dismembering limbs, blood flying everywhere as he did so with Zabuza doing the same beside him.

The one sided massacre didn't take long, the thugs having been piled closely to each other from the initial charge having little to no room to work with nor being able to effectively attack in time close range.

Naruto continued to bisect the bodies as Zabuza rushed past the massacre still ongoing and ran straight towards Gato.

"W..wwait… I'll pay you double… No triple" Gato begged pitifully for his life as snort and tears poured out from the amount of fear he had witnessing the carnage.

Zabuza being the demon of the mist and living up to his reputation wouldn't show him any and raised his sword up high and swung it down on him, effectively bisecting him into two parts.

Within minutes it was over. Naruto was covered in blood head to toe and washed what he could with the water Justus's he had available, the Kyubi's layer of red chakra dispersing as he did so with an unreadable expression on his face.

All team seven could do was watch on in shock. They were either too surprised to see Naruto in such a state killing the thugs mercilessly, even as they begged for mercy or found it not in their place to intervene (Kakashi).

As the slaughter ended both approached Haku and knelt down inspected the wound. There was a large hole right through her chest and nothing they had would save her in time. Naruto didn't know how to describe his feelings as he looked on; stunned would be the best word.

Both looked on as Haku spoke softly, energy disappearing from her voice.

"Zabuza… was I… useful?"

Zabuza looked on, eyes watering slightly with emotion, yet no tears falling.

"Yes… Yes you were Haku." He spoke raspy and weakened as he recalled the times he spent with her and the training they had.

"N… Naruto…"

"Yes Haku…"

"Thank you… for being… my first friend… It was fun." She spoke out, softer at each word before her eyes closed one last time, a small smile on her face.

Team seven was in shock unsure in what to do with what was presented to them. In front of them was a golden opportunity to bring Naruto back, yet they'd just caused him a great deal of pain and wouldn't be coming back willingly, especially if he's so close the his missing ninja team members.

Kushina tried to approach Naruto, to comfort him but was sent back as he launched a kunai in retaliation.

As expected she dodged.

She attempts again, however is blocked by Zabuza swinging the Kubikiribocho at her forcing her to dodge yet again.

"Soichi…" Kushina spoke sad and shocked over what she'd done

"Nii- san wait… we're sorry!" Naruko spoke in great concern. Here was the person she'd been looking for and yet she didn't know how to deal with the situation. They had just caused him a great deal of pain.

"Naruto. I know your angry but let us explain." Satsuki spoke up this time. She had missed Naruto and wanted him back in the village, to see him in front of her now as a genuine enemy concerned her.

Naruto ignored them all and instead turned his back to them opting to create a portal to leave. As this happened Zabuza knelt down and picked up Haku's body, uncaring of the blood seeping down his arms.

Kushina and Kakashi knowing what would happen acted to stop them from leaving by charging forward, however before they could do so Naruto released a few Kunai with explosive notes attached to prevent them from following. As they exploded a small smoke cloud covered the area.

As the smoke dispersed, they were gone.

**Burial of Haku**

Naruto watched on at the small grave they dug for Haku. She didn't have anywhere specific she wanted to be buried when she died, nor could they make the journey to Water country, especially with the civil war going on. All they could do was bury her by the cliff side overlooking the village, a far better burial than what most missing ninja received.

Zabuza and Naruto didn't have much to work with and with the likelihood of Konoha hunter ninja tracking them to either dispose or capture Naruto they had to be quick. They had marked her grave with a large stone inscribed with the words 'Haku Yuki, the last of the Yuki clan, a pure and kind ninja in a dark world'. They had bandaged her wounds and buried her with her more personal items, her senbon and her hunter ninja mask.

The life of the shinobi was hard riddled with death and tragedies, more so with missing ninja. Death was common and even with knowing all that her death still cut deeply at Naruto.

She was his first true friend

It may have been her life goal and dream to be useful to Zabuza, but at some point she wanted something more. He thought back over what she told of her life. The hardships she faced growing up.

**Flashback:**

"Haku, why do you continue to see yourself as Zabuza's weapon?" Naruto spoke out curious and concerned for his new friend.

There was a brief pause as Haku looked away and towards the distance, eyes full of emotion

"If someone who acknowledged you from the bottom of their heart appeared, wouldn't that someone become the most important person to you?" Haku spoke

Naruto thought over what she said and thought of Iruka who had recognized him, acknowledged him, but died shortly after. It was a happy moment, forever cut short.

"Yes" Was his slow and sad reply.

Haku continued acknowledging his response "Zabuza –san took me in knowing I was a person with an advanced bloodline. The blood that everyone hated while he instead desired it."

"What do you mean?" Naruto spoke still not completely aware of the situation in Water country

There was another pause.

"I was born in a small snowy village in the country of the mist. I was happy, my parents were very kind people. But when I grew up and began to learn the ways of the world, something happened… This blood" Haku spoke reminiscing her memories of pain while Naruto listened in with rapt attention.

"My father killed my mother, then he tried to kill me."

"It was because the country of the mist had endless civil wars and those with bloodlines came to be hated, Bloodlines with special abilities such as mine."

Another pause.

"Because of these abilities, clans with special bloodlines were used as weapons in countless battles and as a result, clans were blamed for bringing misfortune and war to the country."

"After the wars, all had to hide the truth about their own blood. For those whose secret was discovered, only death awaited."

She spoke again, this time sadness far more evident in her tone hidden behind her attempted monotone.

"My mother was from one of those clans and my father discovered this. When I realized what I hade done, I had killed him. My own father."

Tears lightly welled in her eyes, falling down as she continued one last time.

"At that time I realized the most painful thing. In this world I am a person who is unwanted."

**Flashback end**

She, just like him was a victim of the world, a world of hatred where children had to grow up strong or as soldiers, as killers all in order to survive.

She was a kind caring girl who just wanted peace, love, and acceptance.

Just like him.

Truly the world was painful and tragic.

The life of a missing ninja was hard and peace being all but an illusion.

Several months later in Water Country, several weeks before the end of the civil war.

Naruto took some time off fighting Yagura's loyalists and instead spent some time searching for the Yuki clan compound on the outskirts of the country. He searched the compound for anything remaining of the now extinct clan all in hope of preserving the memory of Haku.

He spent days and an immeasurable amount of chakra looking for anything to take back and preserve their history, their existence and so far had only found several bloodline related scrolls slightly burnt and damaged, yet still readable.

As he cleared away more rubble and reached the basement floor of the compound he found a peculiar item stacked atop a stone stool covered in chains and seals. Somehow it had remained unaffected throughout the compounds destruction.

As Naruto approached he noticed it was a sword, a katana sheathed in a night black sheath with seal tags and chains placed all about. For some reason he felt the item call to him to pick it up, to use it, to wield it. The urge did not subside as he resisted, but instead grew to the point of overpowering his own.

Naruto was in a daze as he removed the chains and the seals around the katana. He looked closer at the hilt; it was dark blue to purple in colour wrapped around tightly with string with diamond metal marks along to keep the wrapping in place. Towards the blade the division between is clearly accentuated by a four-point star, gold in color. Overall it was appeasing to the eye. (Bleach Ice sword)

As he drew the sword he could feel its influence and power trying pouring into him and trying to control him, to draw him into a frenzy of madness. He fought back with every thought, every bit of willpower he had, yet it did nothing against the unknown will.

He thought back to the times he spent with Haku, the good, the bad and her passing. No he won't fail here he thought determination pouring back into him in force.

Gathering enough determination and strength his will overtook that of the swords with its dominance subsiding. It was as if the sword were testing him, seeing if he could wield it.

As the influence faded, Naruto felt an insurmountable amount of pain on his right shoulder. He turned slowly and looked on as a small blue dragon, wrapped around itself in a circle was slowly etching itself on his skin.

As the carving of the symbol on his skin finished, there was a sudden burst of Chakra flooding out in all directions. He watched as the entire compound and the forest beyond was covered in a thin layer of ice, multiple sharp spikes reached up to the sky as if they were trees all around the compound.

He looked at the sword one last time, great determination in his eyes as they pulsed blue with power.

"Thank you Haku."

**End**

**I didn't proof reading this well as time for me is short and it was far too long for me to attempt to effectively. I'm expecting the next chapter to be good. Still I am happy. I bypassed the reviews and word count of the other Naruto and Clannad crossovers after I post this.**

**On normal occasion the wave ark to me would have taken 3 chapters with this length, however I had to rush it as this is a crossover, there are other important events to cover…**

**I know most of you would prefer I do a single story on the events in the elemental nations as it is pretty interesting, but I still have muse for Clannad and the desire to see both societies clash lol. Also I was sort of disappointed where the clannad fics were going and their abandonment so I'll continue this for a bit before I start. I will do a single story for it later on cause as I look at the potential plot, there's a lot of potential that can be filled with personality focus, different viewpoints and action.**

**You can assume there will be a strong base from this chapter as I tried my best summarizing it. Still it was pretty large. As for Zabuza's emotions, don't review me about having missed them, they will play a key role in the kiri civil war flashback or dream or whatever.**

**So how was the chapter? Review if there is something you want or like and if it's good I'll consider it. Also no flames, I want a detailed constructive review so I can improve and adapt.**

**There is nothing more annoying and stupid than a flame from a reviewer only to find he or she hasn't written a single story and have only been reading other peoples work. Those people are what destroy the enjoyment of writing fanfiction leading to stories being abandoned prematurely.**

**Don't be one of them.**

**Read and Review.**


End file.
